


Acting Like I Don’t Love You

by whatsmentalhealth



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Actor AU, Actor Keith (Voltron), Actor Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Actors, Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, F/M, Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Disaster Shiro (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Mutual Pining, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt is Savage, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Protective Hunk (Voltron), Protective Shiro (Voltron), References to Supernatural (TV), Sassy Pidge | Katie Holt, Slow Burn, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Space Mom Allura (Voltron), klance, she/her pronouns for pidge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27988896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatsmentalhealth/pseuds/whatsmentalhealth
Summary: I was really wanting to write an actor au so here we are.Lance is a semi famous actor, mostly known for a musical tv show he did a few years prior.Keith is a pretty famous action star, he’s done a couple movies but is mostly known for his role in a post-apocalyptic tv show that he just finished.Shiro is a very famous movie star, mostly doing actions or dramas, he’s directed a couple things as well.Allura is also a famous movie star, mostly known for dramas, she also models now and then.Hunk is a semi famous actor, he mostly does sit coms or other comedies.Pidge is well known for her role in a sci-fi movie series.They have all been cast in a new supernatural tv series called “Hollowed Out”. The show is about a group of people who come from various backgrounds who all have to work together to stop the apocalypse. The series is aiming to have about three seasons, it’s airing on Netflix and there’s a huge hype about it among many supernatural fans.The actors don’t know each other well besides Keith and Shiro, will they be able to get along with each other enough to be able to make three seasons together?
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I love actor aus so here we go! I’ll have more notes as the story progresses, but for now just enjoy!

Lance had just heard the news from his agent- he got the part of Robin in _Hollowed Out!_ He auditioned for the show about a month ago, then went to call backs a couple weeks ago, now he had the part!  
He was ecstatic about the show, there was so much hype about it recently! The director was Adam Shirogane, who was well known for making fantastic shows, and Lance was particularly excited about meeting him. Adam and his husband Takashi (everyone calls him Shiro) have been together since Lance was a teenager, and he had always looked up to them.  
He was really struggling with coming out to his family, and they gave him some of the inspiration and courage he needed to finally do it. Being raised in a Christian household made him feel like he wouldn’t be accepted, but his family was just as loving and supportive as ever.   
  
Not to mention that he hasn’t exactly been rolling in job opportunities lately, ever since his last show ended he’s done a few publicity things and some commercials but no acting. It’s been so long that he was scared about this audition, scared that he’d lose some of the spark he used to have. But apparently not! So no use worrying! He told him self over and over again after he got the call. 

His last show was fun, but he kind of.... hated his character? The show was basically a glee rip off, but not nearly as annoying cause there was no Rachel Berry character. His character was basically the gay stereotype for the show, it was better than glee cause the world’s progressed since then, but still not great.   
So he was excited to say the least, about this show. It was an action, which he wasn’t used to, and it had supernatural elements! He low key hoped that his character Robin would get to turn into a vampire or werewolf or something. He also kind of hoped that there would be some LGBTQ+ representation in the show, since Adam is the director he figured they’d be cool about it. It didn’t even have to be Lance’s character, he just knows that it’s important to have representation in media and he wants to contribute to that as best he can.   
  
The first meeting with all the cast and directorial staff would be in a week, there he would meet his co-stars and get the basic idea of the show. He’d also get his script, and the following day they’d have their first read through. He was really curious to who the other actors could be, his agent said this was a pretty big deal, so maybe some a listers? Shiro’s husband was the main director so hopefully he’d at least get to meet him. 

****** 

Keith walked up the stairs to the meeting room, he had a notebook and pen with him to take any notes he’d need. He’d just taken the part of Alexander in _Hollowed Out,_ he wasn’t going to take it initially, but Shiro convinced him once he said that he’d be working along side of him. Shiro was playing Grey, he was the main character, well, Shiro said “All of them are the main characters” but Grey was the leader so... 

Keith sat down at the seat that had his name on it, it read “Keith Kogane- Alexander Hallet”. The only thing he knew about his character was that he was a total badass, and a bit of a jerk. He’d get tons of stunts to do, and have a bunch of cool choreo. From the script he read for auditions he gathered that he wasn’t the most pleasant person to be around, and Keith was more than happy to play _that_ guy.   
  


The room filled up pretty quickly, he’d gotten there a little early and chatted with Adam and Shiro before the rest of the cast had arrived. He recognized some of the other actors, there was Hunk Garret, he was pretty famous in the sit com scene. Keith actually liked a lot of the shows Hunk was in, he’ll have to mention that to him later. Then there was Coran, he was one of the directors and played a side character, Keith has worked with him before.   
He recognized Allura from movies but had never had any personal connection with her, he knows that her and Shiro are pretty good friends. Katie Holt showed up, he didn’t recognize her but she seemed cool. The person they were waiting for was Lance McClaine. Keith was seated next to him, he thought he recognized the name but couldn’t place why.   
  


He was answered when Lance came in the room and made a nice, loud entrance. Keith’s face fell. He was that annoying kid from that stupid musical show, what was it called? Oh who cares, Keith hated it. He watched one episode and couldn’t watch more. He’s not opposed to musicals or musical tv shows, and the actors weren’t even bad singers! But the story was just so bad! It was like glee, but with out any good characters. Lance sat down next to him, he tried not to look at him.   
  
“Hey! I’m Lance McClaine! You’re Keith right? I loved you in your last show!” 

Keith decided not to be rude, he turned and smiled at Lance. He was going to say something but stopped when he saw how freaking gorgeous this man was.   
  
Lance had dark tan skin and was covered in freckles. He was a lean guy, but not in a stringy way. He also had these bright blue eyes. The kind that distracted Keith from everything he was gonna say. He quickly composed himself though. _  
  
_

”Thank you, and it’s nice to meet you, Lance.” Lance smiled and they shook hands. The meeting started not too long after. They went straight to business, they all got their scripts and talked about the show until Keith was fed up with hearing all of the character’s names.  
  
Katie’s character was named Gemma, (sounds like gem-ah) Hunk’s character was named Theo, Allura’s was Amber, and Lance’s was Robin. Keith was kind of jealous, they weren’t all great names but at least they weren’t as generic as Alexander. 

When the meeting ended he talked with Shiro for a bit.   
“Keith it’ll be fun! You get to beat people up! You love doing that!” Shiro told him as they walked down the stair case. Keith grumbled something about how he did like beating people up when they heard someone call their names.   
  


“Wait!” Lance called, he ran down one set of stairs to catch up with them. Shiro and Keith looked at each other in surprise, then back to Lance.   
“Sorry, I just didn’t get a chance to introduce myself to you, Shiro. I now realize that this isn’t the best first impression and I should’ve just waited until tomorrow but, well. I’m already here.” Lance rambled on, Keith couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit annoyed at how much he talked, he seemed like a guy who had good intentions, but also the sort of dude who’s too caught up in his own life to care much for others.

Shiro smiled at him kindly. “Lance it’s okay, and this isn’t my first impression of you. I helped Adam with the casting, so I saw everyone’s audition.” He explained to the two of them.   
“Wait you did?!” Both Keith and Lance asked at the same time. Shiro nodded and looked at Keith. “Did you not know that?” Keith shook his head.   
“Anyway, Lance your audition was great! We’ve been looking for a Robin for a while now. We needed someone who’d be able to play well off others but also do well by himself, and you were perfect!”   
  
Lance looked at Shiro with his mouth agape. Keith thought just for a second how stupid he looked. Lance was a good looking guy but this was not his finest look. Lance shook his head a little and closed his mouth, just to reopen it to talk.   
“Thank you so much! That really means a lot to me. You and Adam were kind of role models to me growing up so it really means a lot.” Shiro patted him on the shoulder and gave him one of his dad smiles.   
“Of course, and hey- We’ll see you tomorrow!” Shiro mentioned before we headed out. I gave him a polite wave before heading down the rest of the stairs. Lance just stood there and watched us go.   
  


The script read through went really well. Keith loved his character already, and he really liked the dynamic of all the main characters. He had a lot of bickering with Lance’s character, but was pretty chill around everyone else. He was a bit of an asshole but mostly kept to himself. All of the other cast members seemed to really get into it.   
  


Lance asked if they wanted him to use an American accent for his character.The directors said that he should talk in his normal voice, and Lance looked a little happy about that. Keith did remember now that he had to use an American accent on his musical show, even when singing. He imagined it would be hard to have to cover up your own voice. He didn’t grow up in Korea and neither did his parents so he never had an accent but he can imagine that it would be tough to have someone tell you to sound less like yourself.   
  


After the script read through was finished Coran suggested that they play some getting to know you games and other ice breakers. Just with the main cast, so we can all get to know each other and have better chemistry. It will also help to ensure we aren’t super awkward around each other.   
  


They went onto the set for this, the set was almost complete, they had some workers in the background finishing up with some of the painting. The main set for the show was a bunker, the main characters find it at the end of the first episode and then they all live there for the rest of the series. They were currently in the living room area. It looked similar to the Men of Letters bunker from Supernatural, but this wasn’t as cozy. It was more like a bomb shelter bunker than cool library bunker.   
  


They all sat together in different spaces around the room. Hunk sat at the coffee table facing the middle of the room, Katie sat across from him. Shiro sat in a chair against the wall. Allura sat next to Shiro in another chair. Lance sat on a low bookshelf, and Keith sat on the floor against the wall. Coran stayed standing at the doorway.   
  


“Okay gang! First things first! Let’s all introduce ourselves with our name, pronouns, and one fun detail about yourself! I’ll start, my name is Coran and I use he/him pronouns, and I am an Aquarius sun!” We all looked to Lance next.   
  


“The name’s Lance! I use he/him pronouns and I am a huge fan of pretty much everyone in this room.” Allura awwed at that and everyone laughed and thanked him. Keith couldn’t stop himself from thinking that Lance was pandering. Keith was trying hard to not dislike his coworker and it was mostly working, but every now and then he’d say something small that would just annoy Keith.   
  


“Okay I’m Hunk, he/him, and I love to cook! Especially big meals for my friends!”   
“I’m Katie, but I’d prefer to be called Pidge. She/her pronouns and I have hacked into a government website, which one? I cannot disclose.” Everyone laughed at that, the energy in the room was good, not awkward.

”I’m Takashi, I go by Shiro. He/him, and I have never worked on a tv show before, only movies.”   
“I’m Allura! She/her pronouns, and I am very excited to work on this show! I’ve never worked on a supernatural or fantasy project so I’m really excited!”   
  


It was Keith’s turn. He didn’t really know what to say about himself. He thinks the most interesting thing about himself was that he was a star, but so was everyone in this room.   
“Uh I’m Keith, he/him pronouns. And I am allergic to dairy?” Lance and Pidge laughed at him, mostly just at how awkward he was, and Keith managed to smile at them.   
  


“Alright! Now let’s play some games!”   
They played some trust games, that human knot game, and now they were gonna play this game Coran had made up.   
  


“Pair up!” Coran called out. Keith turned to Shiro but he was already paired with Allura. He turned back and Lance was next to him.   
  


“Buddies?” Lance said with a cheeky grin. Keith rolled his eyes but smiled and nodded.   
  


He mostly found Lance annoying but he was trying his best to be nice to him. So when they had to play a game where they couldn’t separate from each other was kind of annoying.... 

The idea of the game was to learn each other’s body language or something like that. So they always had to be touching, but had to keep moving. Coran suggested to talk during it so it wasn’t as awkward.   
  
It was still awkward.   
  


Lance took Keith’s hand and spun him around, which Keith was not expecting. When he was facing Lance again they hooked arms and Lance starting walking in a circle, so they were basically arming.   
  


“Are you trying to dance or something?” Keith asked with his eye brow quirked up. Lance looked at him with an annoying smile and said “What else am I supposed to do? Every time I’ve done this activity with someone it’s gotten super sexual super fast. And I kindly assumed a straight guy like you would not be up for that.” Lance smirked as he wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulder, they then kept moving, Keith felt ridiculous.   
  


“First of all, I’m gay. Second of all, how did you manage to make it sexual?” Lance looked at him surprised, then smirked.   
“Just remember that you asked.” Keith’s eyebrows furrowed before Lance grabbed his waist and then they really started dancing. 

Lance put his forehead against Keith’s and rolled their shoulders together until they were back to back, Keith’s face was red and he was trying his best to not laugh. When they were facing again and Lance had hooked his leg around Keith’s, like they were doing the tango, that’s when Keith just lost it. Lance had the biggest smile on his face and Keith just couldn’t stop laughing, the whole situation was funny to him. Then Lance started laughing and they tried to continue without parting but eventually they separated because they were laughing too hard.   
  


“Ooh Lance and Keith are the first ones out!” Coran announces. Keith wanted to object but he couldn’t stop laughing. Then Lance tapped his shoulder and pointed to something. Keith managed to sober himself enough to look to where he was pointing. He followed Lance’s finger to a camera that was set up. Coran told them at the beginning of their exercises that they would be recording them for a gag reel but they had all forgotten. Keith saw the camera, then slowly looked at Lance. They looked at each other for just a moment and started laughing again. 

They only played a couple more games before their time was up for the day. They really did all get closer, they weren’t friends yet but they liked to be around each other. Even Keith, who pretty much hates meeting new people liked hanging out with them all. He liked how well all their humor went together, and even though things were awkward now, he could see himself really liking some of these guys. Maybe even Lance, who he had some reservations on.   
  


They start filming next week, so he has enough time to memorize his lines, and he’ll be learning his fight scenes later on in the process. They start by filming the scenes with big crowds, so they can have everyone in the same place at the same time, and then as the season goes on they just have the main actors on set.   
  


While Keith is learning his lines he gets a text from Shiro.   
  


Shiro: Hey everyone! This is Shiro. Adam thought it would be a good idea if we had a group chat between the six of us, just for whatever reason you guys need. So if everyone could just introduce themselves so we know who’s number is who’s, that’d be great! 

(***)***-****: Hello everyone! This is Allura!! I know I already said this but I’m so excited to be working with you all!   
(***)***-****:Hey this is Pidge

(***)***-****: Heyyyy this is ~Lance~  
Pidge: What’s up with the ~?   
Lance: That’s how I say my name out loud, like ~Lance~  
(***)***-****:I gotcha buddy, that is exactly how he says it, also hiii this is Hunk!

Keith read all the texts then put in names after he knows who they were. He supposes that he should introduce himself now, though he was the only one left, so they could probably figure it out.   
  


Lance: aaand the only person to not respond is Keith, big shocker.  
Lance: Whatcha doing buddy? Brushing your mullet out?   
  


Keith looked at his phone weirdly, mullet? He doesn’t have a mullet!   
  


Hunk: Lol Lance be nice 

Lance: I’ll allow a lot of things, I’m very open minded, but I cannot abide mullets

Pidge: lmao he does have a mullet 

Shiro: Maybe making this chat was a mistake.... 

Keith: Yeah ya think? 

Allura: No Shiro it’s great! 

Lance: The mullet man himself, good to see ya buddy

Shiro: Okay well I’m going to bed, I’ll see you all next week, make sure to get tons of sleep for next week’s shooting, we don’t want anyone falling asleep on set. Night everyone!   
  


Pidge:Is he always gonna text in paragraphs like an old man? (With love Shiro) 

Allura: I am going to turn in as well! It was wonderful meeting you all, take care of yourselves!   
  


Hunk: I feel so loved🥺

Lance: omg hunk you used the 🥺 emoji we’re besties now

Hunk: 🥰

Lance: 😘

Keith groaned at his phone and put it down. It was about time for him to sleep as well, he needs to maintain a healthy schedule for the filming so he should start now. Next week will go fine. He’s sure of it. 


	2. Wanna bet?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of filming! Keith and Lance start a rivalry that neither of them really understand. Shiro is exasperated dad and Pidge and Hunk start a video diary. Allura is just being her glamorous self.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The show is sorta supposed to be a rip off of supernatural, like the characters don’t think that, but it will steal several elements from that show. Also thank you for reading!!

Keith was waiting on set, the rest of the cast was still getting into costume. They had two scenes to film today, but they were pretty important so they reserved a full day to them. 

The scene was in the eighth episode, they had to evacuate all the townspeople before the monsters they fought in the previous episode took over the town. They were all pretending to be federal agents, so they were dressed in suits and some of them had jackets that said FBI on them. It was the only big group scene, tomorrow they’d start filming in chronologic order. 

Keith got to set early like usual so he was first into make up and costume. His hair and makeup crew is super nice, but he didn’t have anything special today so he was in and out before most of the other cast even showed up. 

He was currently sitting on the stage part of the set. The set for the first scene was in a government building, most likely representing a public forum room. He saw other cast members file in and go to hair and make up. He knew Shiro was done a while ago, he was probably with Adam. Keith rolls his eyes just thinking about them. Yes they were cute, but he got sick of them pretty much a month after they started dating.  
He’s known Shiro since he was a kid. They were family friends, and when Keith’s dad died and his mother took off, Shiro’s family took him in. Since then he’s talked to his mom a few times, they keep in touch but he’s not totally over her leaving. Only person who’s always been there is Shiro, and that hasn’t changed for him. 

“Hey Keith!” Allura says strolling over to sit next to him. He smiles and turns his body so they can have a conversation. She’s wearing a dark blue pant suit, her long hair is pulled back and her makeup looks very natural. It’s not a look he sees from her often. 

“Hey Allura, good to see you again.” He kindly replied. She smiled, her smile was bright and warm. “And you as well!” Keith smiled, he liked her British accent, he thought it fit her well. 

“You always come to set early?” She asks him.   
“Yeah, I like to have some time on the set before all the chaos. Plus this way I’m never worried about being late.”   
“I’m the same, I used to be late to some photo shoots, and one day the director yelled at me, and he was so scary I’ve never been late to anything since.” She laughs a bit while telling her story. Keith’s eyebrows knit for a second, but he smiles. 

“That guy sounds like a jerk.” Allura laughs loudly.   
“Oh yes, he was.” They laughed together for a moment. He noticed the rest of the main cast coming out of makeup. 

Pidge, Hunk, and Lance all had dress pants and white button ups with an FBI jacket on over. They looked nice, it was the same thing Keith was wearing but still. They all gathered in front of where Allura and Keith were sitting. 

“Hey guys!” Hunk exclaimed while waving. Keith and Allura waved politely. 

“Guys I had an idea,” Pidge started, “So you know the gag reel? They’re already planning on having one I think. But it gave me an idea.”   
“It’s a good idea! It sounds really fun.” Hunk interrupted, Pidge looked up to him and smiled. 

“What’s the idea?” Keith asked.   
“Right! So we do a mini video diaries of us back stage, nothing with any spoilers, and we post it like a week before the show aires so there will be more hype to watch it!”   
Allura clapped her hands twice, “Oh I love that idea!” Pidge nodded and smiled hugely. Keith shrugged, “Yeah sounds fun.” 

Pidge and Hunk high fived, “Great! And Shiro already agreed!” 

“Speaking of the handsome man himself...” Lance said while Shiro approached them. Keith looked at Lance weirdly, he always hated it when people would hit on Shiro in front of him. It just made him uncomfortable. 

Shiro waved to everyone as he walked over.   
“Okay guys, Adam says he’s gonna talk to us in a minute, he’s gotta get everything sorted out with the extras.” Everyone nodded and they continued to chat quietly. 

Lance started glaring at Keith at one point, Keith looked behind himself at one point, just to check to make sure he was glaring at him. He was. The state unsettled him so much that he shifted a couple times to see if that would make him look away. It didn’t. 

Adam came over to make sure we all remembered our marks and blocking and whatnot. After that he and Coran made the typical first day filming speech. When they were done they yelled “Set!” And everyone got in their places. 

Alexander and Robin were standing next to each other at the side of the stage, Theo was supposed to be giving the big announcement to the crowd. Amber waited at the door to make sure everyone from the town was there, Gemma had a list of everyone in the town and when the scene started she’s send the list around for everyone to mark that they were there. Grey was at the side of the room, he was acting like security. He had on a plain black suit and his hair was slicked back. 

The extras were still being settled when Lance leaned into Keith.   
“I bet that we’ll have to shoot this scene eleven times.” Keith turned his head to him, he was smiling but he almost was.   
“Okay, I’ll bet fifteen times. To add onto that- I bet the first cut will be because Hunk stumbles over something in his speech.” Lance snorted.   
“Nah it’ll be because one of the extras does something weird like sneezes, or has a coughing fit.” They looked at each other. There was a mutual glare of competition in their eyes. 

“Winner gets...” Keith starts.   
“Winner gets to make the new bet.”   
“New bet?” Keith asks Lance. Lance smirks and says “Yeah, series of bets, just today to make things more interesting. Our characters do like nothing in these scenes.” Keith looked at the ground and contemplated. It wasn’t exactly professional, but he did love competition. 

“Deal,” they shook on it and then the first take started. 

Lance was right of course, each of them had one line in this scene, and they were supposed to mime talking to each other but they had only one real line each. Keith’s was “Everyone settle down!” And it was at the end of the scene, when Hunk and Shiro had finished addressing the crowd. Lance’s only line was “Please remain calm.” 

So a game was a good call. 

The first take cut when an extra sneezed, they immediately apologized and they reset for the next take. Lance nudges Keith and whispers “Next bet, I bet that Shiro will have at least three girls state at him for a little longer than what’s comfortable.” Keith scoffed “Only three? Okay, I bet five. Two of them being way too young.” Lance snorted but they both sobered up when the next take started.

“We understand that this is a huge inconvenience, but for your safety this is the best option. My associate Gemma Fords is handing around a sign in sheet, please cross your name out along with any children you have.” Theo announced to the group, several hands were raised from the crowd. 

“I know you probably have several questions, but there isn’t much time, please finish confirming that you are here, then when we are done go back home and grab anything you’ll need for a week. Along with any pets you have, we are setting you up in a community center in the city over.” Gray walked up next to Theo and whispered something in his ear.   
“Yes and we will have some of our agents stay with you all to make sure everything runs smoothly.” Theo finishes up. Gemma gives him the thumbs up from the back of the room, signaling that the sign up sheet is filled.   
Gray starts talking in his commander voice, “Alright, if we could have everyone leave in a very calm manner, and we will meet you at the community center in thirty minutes. Take this time to gather what you need. We will be taking attendance again once we get there.” The extras started moving about, Robin and Alexander went to make sure the crowd didn’t get too rowdy as they were hurriedly leaving. 

An extra pushed Alexander and he shouted over all the hustle “Everyone settle down!” From across the room Robin said “Please remain calm.” The crowd continued to disperse leaving just the main six. Gray said a few things, he assigned Theo and Gemma to stay with the group at community center. Then the scene ended. 

Lance smiled at Keith like he was obscenely proud of something. “What?” Keith asked. “That was twelve takes, I’m closer, boom!” Keith rolled his eyes. They all moved over to the set for the next scene, it was just outside the forum, on the steps of the building, they were basically just guiding people to where the center was, it was just supposed to be a bunch of takes of them helping people. 

“Okay, I bet that I can do more push ups than you.” Keith laughed and raised an eyebrow. “Really?” “Yeah.” “Dude we don’t even have time to-“ “they’re still setting up the cameras for this scene.” Lance had such a baiting look on his face. He knew he shouldn’t- but he couldn’t help it, he knew he could win and he wanted Lance to know that. 

They were doing push ups for who knows how long, Pidge started filming them, and a crowd of extras had gathered. Lance tapped out at 115, Keith did five more then cheered. 

“Alright alright, cameras are ready. Set!” Adam called to everyone. The boys got up, both of them a little shaky. 

Everyone was in position when Keith said “I bet that more extras will come up to me for help,” Lance glared at him, and chewed a bit at the inside of his lip.   
“Fine, we’ll see who’s the fan favorite.” They had to do several takes of this scene, the cameras needed to be in the position to get each character helping out townspeople. Along with that, Hunk kept laughing at something this one extra was saying to him. 

After the first take Lance held up five fingers to Keith, Keith smirked and held up seven. Lance rolled his eyes. Then Keith ran up to him real quick while Adam was talking to someone “I bet that the next take will be the last one.” “Bold bet,” “I’m confident in us,” he started walking away before quickly turning on his heel. “And you can’t mess it up on purpose!” Lance laughed and they set up for the next take. 

It was not their last, they had two more. After the scene was done Lance wandered over to Keith.   
“Bet you that the speech given by Adam will contain the phrase ‘we couldn’t do this with out you’” “I’ll take that action.” 

Adam gathered up everyone and started his speech.   
“Thank you to everyone here! This show means a lot to us and we’re so glad you could all help us create it! You all did amazing and we hope to see you all again! Okay break.” 

Lance snapped his fingers and Keith just patted him on the shoulder.   
“Okay so what do I win?” He asked.   
“We’re not done yet,”   
“No?”   
“We don’t know how many people checked Shiro out enough to make him uncomfortable.” Keith rolled his eyes. 

Some of the extras wanted pictures with various cast members, mostly with Allura or Shiro but the rest of them too. 

Once they were all back in the make up room Lance popped the question.   
“So Shiro, how many people checked you out so intensely it made you super uncomfortable?”   
“Uh what?” Lance and Shiro sit on opposite ends of the make up room, they were just shouting at each other.   
“You know, all those fans, some of them are bound to be attracted to you.” Hunk suggested. Keith wasn’t sure if Lance told him about the bet or if he was just curious as well. 

“Oh well, I don’t know I didn’t count them. I suppose seven?” Keith pumped a fist. Lance whined loudly. 

“Okay now what do I win?”   
“No no no no, we are not ending on that. One more bet. Come on.”   
Keith rolled his eyes, the prize better be big.   
“Fine, I bet that I’m a faster runner than you.”   
He was a pretty fast runner, and he won the push ups contest, he could win this too. 

“Okay, meet outside after you’re done with hair and makeup. Pidge! Bring your camera!” 

“Bold of you to assume I haven’t been filming this entire conversation.” She says from next to Keith, he turns to see that yes. She has been filming them. He laughs and waves at the camera, he must look very silly right now. He has had his makeup off, and is in his normal street clothes which is just a black t shirt and jeans. 

They meet outside in the parking lot, the plan is to see who can run from one end to the other and back faster. They marked off the start/ finish line with chalk that they had in the break room. 

Keith and Lance were neck and neck, just about to start running. Allura had the stop watch, Pidge had the camera, Hunk was at the other end (they had to high five him before turning around), and Shiro was in the background with Adam. Shiro had his face in his hands.   
“It’s our first day.” Was all he said. Adam patted his back, but he looked excited himself. Some of the extras stayed to watch. 

“Ready...” Allura started “Set... Go!” They both took off across the parking lot, they seemed to be going at the same rate when Lance sped up just a fraction more. 

Lance got to Hunk a second before Keith did, and Keith lost time on the turn. Lance crossed the line two seconds before Keith and everyone cheered, Keith groaned. 

“Hahahaha! Yes!” Lance cheered for himself. Keith rolled his eyes.   
“Okay Mullet, what’s the prize?”   
“I don’t know! You came up with this idea.”   
“Hmm, okay. You have to do something embarrassing on the video diary.” Keith shook his head quickly.   
“More embarrassing than losing to Lance?” Pidge asked from behind her camera. Lance turned to her with the most offended expression.   
“Hey!” Everyone laughed, including Keith. 

“Okay Fine, what do I have to do?” 

“Ooh! Okay you should tell them an embarrassing story!” Hunk suggested, Keith looked at him with his best what-the-heck-man? Expressions that he could muster. Lance clapped him on the back. 

“Okay fine! Fine! Let me think of one.”   
“I have one for you! Shiro shouted from a couple feet away.   
“Shut up!” Keith pointed a finger at him. He knew exactly what he was gonna say. That story must never come to light though. 

“Okay fine, Pidge I’m ready.” Lance and Allura watched excitedly from behind Pidge’s shoulders. Hunk was talking to Adam about something. 

“Okay hey everyone watching! I’m Keith Kogane and I just lost a bet so now I’m gonna tell an embarrassing story I guess.” Lance nodded and did the ‘go on’ motion. Keith rolled his eyes. 

“Okay uhm, when I was a sophomore in high school, I was at a football game with a friend and she tried to kiss me and I freaked out because I wasn’t out at the time. I was super scared that my friend would be homophobic cause a lot of people around there were. So I told her that I was dating this cheerleader, and my friend got really mad at me and went up to the cheerleader at half time and asked her about it. I was really desperate cause I didn’t want to be caught in a lie so I y’know, begged her behind my friends back to just lie. And she did! And after the game she said she had a crush on me and she thought that I lied because I liked her.... so we dated for like five months.” Lance and Pidge winced and Lance let out a “ooooh yikes.” 

“During that time, my friend found a poem I wrote about this guy I had a crush on, and she gave it to my girlfriend thinking it was about her. And so that girlfriend loved the poem and kept it in her locker for like, three months. Eventually she got mad at me for something and yelled at a party that I lied about us dating and we’d only been together for five months, so then everyone was confused to why I had lied, especially my friend. So then I came out to her and she reminded me that her brother was gay.” Lance started laughing and Shiro chuckled. Allura politely covered her mouth when she laughed and Pidge just shook her head. 

“That’s not as much embarrassing as it is cringey,” She said. Keith rolled his eyes.   
“Does it help that my girlfriend and I had the same haircut?” Now everyone was laughing. Pidge said through laughs “Yes! Hahahaha yes it does.” 

Pidge put away the camera and everyone started dispersing. Keith was walking to his car when Lance called after him. 

“Wait Keith, I gotta know. Did you both have mullets? Or what was going on with the matching cuts?” Keith laughed under his breath as he unlocked his car. 

“Not exactly, we both had the swoopy bang style, you know, like the emo look.” Lance laughed and playfully hit his shoulder. 

“Well, still better than a mullet.” Keith pushed Lance and got in his car. 

He’ll always remember that as the most eventful first day of shooting.


	3. That feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First week of filming!   
> Hunk is a sweetie, Pidge is mostly indifferent.   
> Keith’s laugh is cute.   
> Shiro has some flash backs.   
> And most importantly, Lance is oblivious.

The thing about Lance was that he was the most oblivious person ever. Only thing he wasn’t oblivious about was the fact that he was oblivious. 

His was so excited for his first day on set, and he really wanted to be friends with everyone on cast. He had seen everything that Allura and Shiro had been in, he was a huge fan. And he’s enjoyed Hunk and Keith’s shows. He hasn’t seen anything with Pidge but he’s seen some clips.

When he met up with everyone for the first time he thought he’d stop breathing. Every time he talked to Adam or Shiro his heart almost leaped out of his chest. He couldn’t even begin to describe the affect they have had on the community and on his own life. He held so much admiration for them that it hurt. 

When they were waiting on set before filming started he realized that something was off. It took him a second to realize what was wrong though. He automatically became friends with Hunk- that wasn’t the problem. Neither was Pidge, he already sort of saw her like a little sister. He knew it wasn’t Shiro, that dude was his hero. It wasn’t Allura, probably. He is attracted to her a little bit, he definitely was when he was younger. But now? Of course she was gorgeous, but he didn’t feel any pull towards her. Maybe it was Keith....

He stared at Keith, trying to figure out what was bothering him. Maybe it was the mullet, he was joking about that mostly, but why else would he feel weird around him? He felt, insecure. Like he wasn’t doing enough. He felt small and inadequate compared to Keith. 

Keith’s movement broke Lance’s stare. Keith turned his head to see if Lance was looking behind him. After that Lance tried not to stare so hard. 

When they were setting up positions for the scene Lance came up with an idea.   
If he figured out a way to embarrass Keith maybe he’d feel better. Not too seriously that he’d feel guilty, or that Keith would hate him. He just needed something. Something to make the feelings stop eating away at his chest. 

He decided a series of bets would work, he’d get to encourage his own competitive side, entertain others, beat Keith in something, make himself feel better, and all while making it seem strictly friendly. 

It worked out well, he was a little embarrassed that Keith beat him in the push up contest. He also managed to do it while looking so good in his costume? His hair was pulled back in a pony tail and he wore pretty much the same as Lance, a white button up with an FBI jacket and dress pants. But something about the way he could see Keith’s body move underneath the cloths made him feel worse. 

He felt better when he won the race. And even better when Keith had to tell an embarrassing story. 

The feeling didn’t leave his chest though. It lived there for the rest of the week. 

They’ve almost finished filming the first episode, today they only had two scenes to shoot. One outside the bunker in a meeting and one in the bunker. The second would be mostly them exploring the place and settling in. 

Lance was goofing off with Hunk in the break room, and Pidge was filming them for the video diaries. They all decided that some of these would be in the gag reel as well. 

Keith walked in and went straight to the coffee. Lance felt that strange gut feeling. He couldn’t get it to go away. 

“Hey there Mullet, get in here!” Lance yelled from the couch. Keith turns towards them, he’s leaning against the table and blowing on his coffee in a styrofoam cup. 

“Why?” Keith asked plainly. Lance rolled his eyes.   
“Cause it’s fun! Come on!” Pidge yelled to him. He rolled his eyes and sat down next to Lance. Their elbows touched and Lance shifted so they wouldn’t anymore. 

They were just playfully chatting, Keith didn’t contribute much, but Lance was loving the idea of being able to say anything to the camera. 

“Places in five everyone.” A stage hand peeked into the room to announce. They all got up and wandered over to set. 

The scene went on for a while. The characters were still awkward around each other, Gray was the appointed leader but none of them were yet comfortable. 

The characters were drawn towards each other because of disaster, they were the sole survivors of a monster attack of a general store. Luckily none of them lost family members, but with the oncoming storm of the apocalypse they all left their lives behind to try to stop it. 

“And why are we following the directions of a dusty old map?” Gemma said near the end of the scene. They were in a forest, an actual forest in the lot behind the studio. 

“Because,” Gray said exasperated. “The spell that saved us has origins in Faelish (made up language of the magic users of this area), and this is a Faelish map to... somewhere.” Gray finished, he was just as confused but trying to keep it together. 

“Yeah I gotta agree with Gray here, the after shock of the spell left that imprint on us. I’m not sure about you guys but I feel like this is what we have to do.” Amber said to the group as they move through the forest.

Robin looked down at his hands, Lance concentrated on looking like he was contemplating.   
Robin was a complex character, he was sarcastic but mostly just to cover up how broken he was. That’s how Lance read him at least. 

Alexander bumped his arm with his own and gave him this caring look. Lance didn’t think he would find that look on Keith’s face. But there it was. A look that was scared and anxious, but also empathetic, but it also showed strength. Alexander was someone with a lot of walls up, and Lance noticed that he often let his walls come down a bit around Robin. Their friendship grew a lot with the season. 

“Hey, you okay?” Alexander asked Robin. Robin looked at him surprised. He scoffed and said “What me? I’m great. I love stomping through the woods looking for who-knows-what.” Alexander laughed under his breath and said “Yeah that about sums it up.” 

The group wandered for a little while longer, they chatted awkwardly the whole time. They arrived at the clearing and had to pretend that the door to the bunker was in front of them. They would film that part inside then stitch the two together. 

They filmed the short exchange of them all waiting outside the door. Then walked straight into the camera like they were entering the bunker. It was cheesy but Lance kind of liked it. 

“Cut! Alright meet back at stage 6 in thirty, and we’ll run that quick exchange again.” Adam yelled, all the cast and crew started walking back inside. 

“Hey dude,” Hunk said, starting to walk next to Lance.   
“Hey man! That was a fun scene to shoot. And we only had to do it like, twice!”   
“Yeah it was great! Hey I have an idea, it might be kind of stupid though...” Hunk trailed off.   
“Hunk, you’ve never said anything stupid ever.” Pidge said from his other side.   
“Yeah buddy, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!” Lance assured him. 

“Aw thanks guys. Well I was just thinking that next Saturday we could have a little get together with the main cast? Like we’d watch movies and maybe just chat?” 

“Hunk. That is an amazing idea.” Lance told him, he was smiling quite big now. He absolutely loved Hunk and he’s only known him two weeks. 

“Yeah sounds fun.” Pidge said, she was distracted by something on her phone to say more. 

“Cool! And if you guys didn’t mind I could make some food, like a big dinner. Or just snacks or whatever you guys want.” Lance could tell Hunk was a little nervous right now, he totally understood. Lance was not a stranger to social anxiety. 

“Yeah man that sounds great!” Lance patted him on the back. They had arrived back at the building so they all settled into the break room while the next scene was being set up. 

“Tell Allura, Keith, and Shiro!” Lance prompted Hunk once they were all seated. Hunk looked at him like he was surprised by how excited Lance was. But he looked happy about it so Lance didn’t mind the surprise. 

“Okay, um hey guys.” He waved to the three, they all looked at him kindly. They were all so polite, geez.   
“Well I already told Pidge and Lance, but I was gonna invite you all over next Saturday to just hang out and watch movies or something.” Allura’s face immediately lit up. 

“Oh my goodness that sounds so fun! I’ll be there!” Her British accent was so pretty and soothing. He totally understood why he used to like her. 

“Yeah that sounds fun, we’ll be there.” Shiro said, gesturing to him and Keith. Keith looked at Shiro with an expression Lance couldn’t read. But he turned to Hunk and said “Yeah Just text the chat what time and everything.” 

Lance cheered and gave Hunk a high five. They talked about what movies to watch for the next couple minutes. None of them agreed. 

They shot the quick dialogue in two takes, Lance was grateful for that. He was pretty tired. Long first week. 

The next scene was just them exploring the bunker and talking about it, then they had a little inspirational bit at the very end where they all meet again in the middle and have this look of mutual agreement between them all, that this was their life now. And they were gonna do whatever it took to help save the world. 

Again, it was cheesy. But Lance loved that sort of thing. 

This took a while to shoot because Lance and Pidge kept getting lost in the bunker set. They also would mess around anytime they broke or messed up. Man the gag reel would be hilarious this season cause Lance had done a number of stupid things just today. 

He tripped over nothing while turning a corner, he got lost several times and had to have Keith or Shiro come find him. He and Hunk ran into each other by accident, he made several funny faces at the camera and etc. No one seemed to mind though. Lance assumed that he wasn’t the only one goofing off. Pidge definitely would be. He also knew that Pidge had definitely sworn in front of the cameras a couple times. 

The scene took a while to get perfect, but they got enough shots of them looking around, and the one of them all at the end that they thought it good enough to call it. 

Lance was taking off his makeup when his agent called. He immediately picked up, he loved his agent. His name was Slav and he was just the weirdest dude he’s ever met. Got him great jobs though. 

“Slav! My man, talk to me!” Lance said loudly into his phone.   
“Lance, hi, I have some news for you.” Slav was kind of a weird talker. You just gotta get used to him.   
“As you know, the cast for your show is being released at the end of next month. This means you will be booked with interviews for a while afterwards, well. That is the most probable turn of events... of course it could go entirely different, though the chances are low-“   
“Slav, my man. What was the point of this call?” Lance had to cut him off, he got off track real quick and had trouble getting back on if he was too far.   
“Right! Of course. So the best option for you is to keep up your appearance on social media until then! So that people will be able to associate your face with your character as soon as possible!

“So I am once again going to suggest getting a social media agent, we have some at the firm that I could assign you to! This will take the stress off you and-“   
“Slav we’ve had this conversation. I like being able to be one on one with my fans on social media. I can make my own tweets and posts. I appreciate your concern, but I’m going to pass. Again.”   
“Alright, well I have nothing else for you right now. You’re doing well though! As soon as the cast is released your standing and popularity will only get higher.”   
“Sounds good, thank you Slav. See you later.”   
“Yes, good bye.”   
Lance hung up and set his phone down. He had finished getting out of make up and costume so he immediately got up and started to leave. 

“Hey Lance!” Shiro said, he was still seated and taking his makeup off.   
“What’s up?”   
“Your Agent...”   
“Slav? He’s great, why? Do you need representation?” Lance couldn’t imagine that Shiro didn’t have an agent.   
“Heh, no I just wanted to confirm that I overheard you correctly.”   
“You know Slav?” Shiro’s face held such contained horror and anger. His right eye twitched ever so slightly, Lance could tell that this was not intentional. 

“Uhmm, yeah. I’ve met the guy.” Shiro’s eye twitched another time. Lance just patted him on the shoulder. He knew that Slav tended to drive some people up the wall. 

Lance was walking to the parking lot when he saw Keith on the phone outside his car. Keith looked up from the ground and waved at Lance. Lance’s car was a couple over from his so he walked over to him. 

“Yeah of course. Thank you so much again. I really appreciate it.” Lance could hear Keith saying.   
“Okay yeah I’ll see you around.” Keith hung up and put his phone away in his pocket. 

“Who were you calling?” Lance inquired as he stood in front of Keith. Keith crossed his arms.   
“Was it your boyfriend?” Lance asked, making sure to draw out the o in boy, just to let Keith know he was joking. He knew it worked when Keith smiled and rolled his eyes. 

“My dog sitter. She’s been watching her while I move.” Lance’s face lit up.   
“You have a dog?!?” Keith laughed at him.   
“Yeah his name is Kosmo.”   
“Pictures. I need pictures.” Keith took his phone out and showed picture after picture of the cutest husky.   
“I love her.” Lance stated. They had started standing next to each other, their shoulders pressed together. Lance didn’t move away this time.   
“Heh thanks, she’s the best.”   
“You said you were moving?” Lance asked casually.   
“Yeah...” Keith sounded kind of annoyed. Not at Lance, just about moving.   
“I used to share a place with a friend of mine but we had a bit of a falling out and I’ve been looking for a new place. I stayed with Shiro and Adam for a while and Kosmo was with us for that. But with all of us out of the house at once I just felt better with a sitter.”  
Lance was taken back by this. Keith was close enough with someone, besides Shiro, that he’d live with them? Something in his brain didn’t compute. Also they had a falling out? That made more sense to his picture of Keith in his head. Cool, rude, cold, kind of silly now that he knows him, but for the most part he’s kind of disagreeable. 

“You guys had a falling out? What did you get tired of you leaving hair in the shower drain or something? Or maybe he got tired of watching the same episodes of your old tv show. Ooh! Or he got sick of having no milk in the house cause you’re allergic.” 

Keith’s eyebrows furrowed, he was getting angry. Good, Lance knew how to deal with angry Keith. Soft, dog owner Keith was new territory.

Then Keith’s face settled. He let out a soft chuckle. 

“Heh, yeah something like that.” Lance was struck for a moment. What the fuck just happened. 

Keith turned to get into his car, he opened his door and stopped. 

“Also, I can be around dairy. I just can’t drink it. You know that right? It’s kind of important to me that you know that.” Lance pushed out a fake smile and flipped him off. Keith chuckled, again. Then Lance moved away and watched him drive off. 

This guy was so confusing. He thought he understood something about him, then nope. 

He thought he liked seeing Keith mad. But then another thought said he liked it even more when he laughed. That thought was brushed aside. Lance liked it when everyone laughed. He was a comedian and loved the attention. 

He was right though, he liked seeing Keith mad. Lance felt better about himself when he looked Keith in the eyes and saw that fire behind them. 

He’ll find a way to mess with him. He knew it wasn’t the best choice, but it felt necessary at the time. Like maybe one day they could be friends. But for now, Lance just wanted to infuriate that guy. Any way he could.


	4. Never Have I Ever....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk’s sleepover party!  
> Filming has been going well, and Lance has started to prank Keith.  
> Fun party shenanigans with the main cast!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !There is a mild trigger warning for being used by older person in sexual relationships at the end of the chapter! Nothing graphic and everything was consensual and not illegal, but the younger person was being used in this situation, if you don’t want to read this then the next chapter will have a quick summary of the events with no graphic details.

Hunky Bear: Okay guys! I’ve made some snacks and we can order some take out later in the evening  
Pidgeon: Cool, what’s your address again?  
Hunky Bear: It’s 1719 Weston Drive. It’s a big brown house, you can’t miss it.  
Allura✨: This will be so fun! Should I bring anything?  
Shiro 😫: I’m gonna be a little late, 7ish  
Hunky Bear: That’s fine Shiro, whenever you can come is all good. And Allura I suggest a sleeping bag and a pillow. I have extras of each of anyone forgets  
Lance: I’m almost there btw

Lance put down his phone, he was in a cab with his overnight bag. It just had a pair of clean clothes and a sleeping bag. He had a hat and sunglasses on, he didn’t want to be recognized by anyone. He wasn’t super famous but every once and a while someone will see him. 

He was psyched for the party! They’d been filming for two weeks and he was really enjoying the experience. The crew was amazing and so nice. His own hair and makeup people loved him and he loved them! They joked around all the time. He of course loved the cast. Lance had gotten close to them pretty fast. He was already like besties with Hunk and Pidge. He was working on Allura and Shiro. He’d guess that they’d all be super close by the end of the night. 

Keith on the other hand...  
He was difficult. Mostly because of Lance’s pranks. He’s only done small stuff cause he doesn’t know him super well yet. But so far this week he’s left a fake ticket on his car, stolen his sides, and put sugar in his coffee. That last one wasn’t much of prank, he was honestly doing Keith a favor. Lance hated black coffee, but it was all Keith drank. 

Keith was mostly chill about it. When he got the car ticket he was mostly confused. Lance was with him when it happened. 

Keith picked up the fake ticket Lance had placed in his wind shield wipers.  
“What the hell?” He murmured. Lance tried not to laugh.  
“Whatcha got there?” Lance asked him. Keith looked at him then back to the ticket.  
“A ticket? I haven’t done anything illegal?”  
Lance let him stew for a few more seconds before he flipped the ticket over.  
The ticket said ‘$1000 fine for having the worlds worst mullet!’ When Keith read it his head spun towards Lance.  
Lance started laughing of course. “You were so confused!” Keith stalked over to Lance with a glare that could kill. Lance shrieked and started running away. Eventually Keith caught up and picked Lance up from behind and spun him. Lance was screaming dramatically and Keith was mostly laughing. He set him down and punched him in the arm.  
“Do that again and I’ll beat you up.” Keith held back a smile and walked away from Lance. Lance rubbed his arm, Keith was really strong. 

When he stole his sides he chased him through the break room until he got them back. 

When he put sugar in his coffee he spit it out immediately. “Gahhh what’s in my coffee?” He turned to Lance with his bitch face. Lance just smirked and winked before leaving for his next scene. 

Pidge caught them all on camera, though she had to hide for most of them so it wouldn’t reveal it as a prank too early. 

Lance smiled thinking about the past week. He really liked working with these guys. He’d never felt so comfortable so fast with a cast. Once he arrived a block away from Hunk’s place he got out of the cab and walked the rest of the way. 

Hunk lived in a nice brown house with a beautiful garden. He walked up to the door and knocked.  
Hunk opened the door with a big smile. 

“Lance! Hey! Come on in.”  
“Hunk I love your place! It’s so pretty.” Hunk scratched the back of his neck and looked around.  
“Heh, thanks. It’s a little big for just me, but it works for having people over. Which I do a lot.”  
Hunk gives Lance a mini tour since he was early. 

Once they returned to the living room Lance sat on one of the couches. Hunk had a cooking show on his tv, and his kitchen smelled amazing. The living room and kitchen were connected, only separated by the carpet of the living room starting. 

Hunk was putting chips in a bowl and Lance got up to help him. Hunk smiled and told him what he could help out with. They talked about old coworkers and set up some snacks. 

“Hunk, I hope it’s okay, but I brought some vodka?” Lance said once they were done.  
“Dude, that’s totally fine. I haven’t set mine out yet but I have so much alcohol. I figured we’d play some drinking games later on.” Lance’s smiled widened.  
“Dude, you are the best,” Lance said as they high fived. 

People started arriving. Allura first, then Pidge, then Keith. Shiro arrived a half hour later. In the mean time Hunk showed them the essentials; the bathroom, kitchen/living room, backyard, and second bathroom. 

Once Shiro arrived everyone sat down in the living room, the cooking show still on in the background. 

“Okay we can order dinner whenever you guys feel like it.” Hunk said as everyone settled in. Pidge started telling a story about her brother. 

“Wait...” Shiro started. Everyone looks to him.  
“Pidge Holt. Is your brother Matt Holt?” He asked Pidge. Pidge looked around the room confused.  
“Yeah? Do you know him?” She asked. Shiro started laughing. Everyone looked around confused except Keith. He mostly looked shocked. 

“Heh, sorry. Yeah Matt and I go way back. I knew he had a famous sister I just never connected the dots. We haven’t talked in a while and the cast hasn’t been released to the public so I guess it makes sense.” He explained to the group. Keith whispered something into his ear. Shiro nodded and said “Yeah, fine. It’s probably better for them to know.” 

Keith smiled and said “Matt and Shiro dated.” Pidge’s face fell.  
“Ewww, Shiro whyyy?” She covered her face. His face flushed deeply. Lance and the others were laughing. 

“You’re laughing. My idiot brother dated my co worker and you’re laughing.” Pidge stared right at us and said. Her face still pink from embarrassment. 

“Wait does he have an Instagram?” Lance asked her.  
“I am not telling you! No! Do not look him up!” Pidge yelled at him from across the room. Keith leaned towards Lance and said “His @ is ratthew_holt” Pidge groaned and buries her face in a pillow.  
Lance found his Instagram and said “Damn, he’s hot. I’d date him too Shiro.” Shiro choked on his drink and Pidge faked a gagging sound. Allura and Hunk gathered around his phone to look. They spent a couple minutes going through his pictures when Pidge grabbed his phone.  
“Okay! Enough! We don’t need to keep talking about him.” She said while putting Lance’s phone on the kitchen island. 

“Wait, sorry Pidge one more thing. How’d you meet him Shiro?” Allura asked him. They all looked at him.  
“Uhh well....” Keith snorted and Shiro hit him.  
“We uh, met at a club...” Pidge’s mouth dropped. Lance let out a cackle, Keith joined him laughing. Hunk and Allura took a second to understand. 

“No! Why would you tell me!?” She did a circle around the room. She came back with a bowl of Cheetos and started stuffing her face. 

Allura went back to her seat next to Pidge. Lance just realized that he was seated next to Keith. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t realize that earlier. 

Hunk turned on a movie they had all seen so they didn’t have to pay attention. They chose “Iron Man”, they all liked Superhero movies and it was one they’d seen enough. 

Half way through the movie they ordered food from a nearby Chinese restaurant. Hunk answered the door for the delivery guy with sunglasses and a hat on. He didn’t want a possible fan knowing where he lived. Lance realized he should probably do that. He orders all the time and just now thought that maybe some delivery person knew where he lived. 

“Hey Allura wanna split?” Shiro asked, Allura nodded and they switched spots to sit next to each other. Lance looked at them for a second. They were two undeniably gorgeous people. Then he thought for a moment, everyone in the room was gorgeous. 

Keith nudged him. Lance turned to him. “What?” “Why you staring like a weirdo?” Lance’s eyebrows scrunched up, he leans his shoulder against Keith’s and pushes. “I was just thinking about how hot everyone in this room is.” Keith rolled his eyes but Lance saw his smile. 

“Hey Shiro,” Lance started. Everyone looked at him. “Do you know what happens in the later seasons? Has Adam given any details to you?” Shiro looked around like he was checking for paparazzi. 

“You guys can’t tell anyone. Adam only told Allura and I cause it influences how we act in the first season.” Allura smiled like she knew what he was gonna say. Lance leaned onto his knees in anticipation. 

After a moment of silence Shiro said “Amber and Gray get together in season two.” Everyone gasped. Allura and Shiro laughed and looked at each other. 

“That makes so much sense!” Hunk said, he had put down his food. Pidge started chuckling.  
“So do you guys have to make out on camera next season then?” She continued chuckling. Lance had quick flash backs to the times he’s had to make out on camera. It’s awkward if it’s with someone you don’t know well. He can’t imagine it would be that weird for Shiro and Allura. Sure, Shiro was gay and Allura wasn’t interested anyway, but they were close friends. 

“Uh yes, only one make out scene and a few kisses throughout the rest of the series, is that right?” Allura said. Shiro nodded and went back to eating his food. Keith was chuckling under his breath. 

“What’re you laughing at mullet?” Lance asked him.  
“Oh, just remembering the kiss scenes I’ve done in the past.” 

“Wait, okay,” Lance put his hands out in front of him. “Everyone tell their worst on screen kiss story.” Pidge laughed and said “I’ll go first!” 

“Okay, It was for ‘Runner 2’ and it was with the main character who was supposed to be my best friend. But the actor and I hated each other. We had to shoot the scene so many times because each time I got close enough to his face I’d start laughing. I felt kind of bad about it but he was a jerk so not too bad.” A couple of them chuckled at that. 

“Okay I’ll go next.” Hunk said, he set his empty package of food down on the coffee table and brushed his hands together.  
“Okay for my show ‘Forever 33’ my character had a love interest named Vicky for the first couple seasons. Her and I were kind of awkward around each other cause we went into the show knowing that we’d be love interests so we never got close. I remember every time we’d finish a kiss scene she’d say ‘I have a boyfriend’.” We all laughed, even Hunk. He looked a little exasperated from the memory. 

“Like we’d finish kissing and the director would cut or whatever and I’d say like ‘good job!’ Y’know, to be nice and stuff and she’d say ‘I have a boyfriend’ then walk away?? Like I didn’t think I was doing anything to make her uncomfortable but I don’t know?” Lance patted his shoulder. 

“I’m not sure what her deal was but the writers wrote her out of the story cause she was difficult to work with apparently.” We all took a moment to calm down from laughing. 

“I’ll go.” Shiro suggested. He and Allura switched food containers.  
“I wasn’t out at the time- and the movie was supposed to be this indie film and there was a whole sex scene in it.” Keith started laughing, Lance assumed he knew the story. Lance is pretty sure he’s seen the movie he was talking about. He blushed just from thinking about that scene. 

“So we were filming that and we had to retake it so many times. She got pretty annoyed with me. When we were almost done with the scene, nothing had gone wrong, my boyfriend came onto set to surprise me and he immediately started laughing. No one there knew why he was there cause again I wasn’t out. So they had to cut the scene and I had to go explain to the security guards trying to drag him away that he was my ‘friend’” he put friend in air quotes. “And I was like... not wearing anything but a cup. So I was walking up to my boyfriend who was being taken away by security, wearing nothing. It was mortifying.” We were all laughing, Keith especially. 

“I guess that’s not so much about the kiss, but that’s what came to mind.” He picked up a beer from the kitchen and drank at least half of it in one go. 

“Wait....” Pidge looked at the ground with a stare. Her face scrunched up all angry like. Lance’s eyebrows knit in confusion and he looked to Shiro who finished his beer quickly with big eyes. Keith started laughing even louder. 

“Oh nooo...” Lance started to say. Keith nodded with a huge smirk. Lance started laughing as well. Hunk looked around confused. Allura got this Look of realization on her face and she chuckled a little and put her hand on Pidge’s shoulder. 

“Will someone explain what’s happening?” Hunk asked. Shiro popped open another beer. 

“The boyfriend who ruined the shot was Pidge’s brother.” Keith said between laughs. Hunk’s face lit up and he let out one big HAH before covering his mouth. 

“Let’s move on, please.” Shiro said, sitting back down next to Allura.  
“Seconded,” Pidge said from behind her hands. 

“I can go,” Allura said. She was next to Shiro so It made sense for her to go next. Lance was still trying to figure out which one to say. 

“I’ve been in several romance movies, so I’ve kissed so many people on screen.” She chuckled a little.  
“I don’t really have a bad experience with any of them in particular. Though there was this one guy who assumed we were dating because we were in the movie. It was the most bizarre thing. After one of the kiss scenes, the director cut the scene when it was done and the man kissed me again out of no where. And I asked him ‘what are you doing? He called cut.’ And he explained that he thought we were dating. When I asked him why he thought that he said that he was a method actor.” Shiro started laughing a lot. Everyone chuckled a little but Lance was surprised by how funny Shiro though that was. 

“Okay wait, me next.” Lance said.  
“I was this musical show right? And I played like the stereotypical gay guy. And in one song we were supposed to end the song with a big kiss. It was huge for the characters and the plot cause their romance had been building for a while. So it was this big moment in the show. So when we did the first take I was so nervous that we knocked teeth together.” Pidge laughed at him and Hunk covered his mouth. Allura chuckled politely and Shiro just smiled. 

“So we reset, and the next time our noses like pressed together in a weird way so the director made us keep doing it. Eventually we’d taken so many takes that the director stopped the scene for a five minute break. He came up to the two of us, put his hands on our shoulders, and said ‘make out, right now’. So we did. And it went fine! No awkwardness. The director hit us both over the head and the next take we did was perfect.” Lance got up to grab a beer. Keith asked him to grab him one. 

“So were you just nervous or something?” Hunk asked when he sat back down. Lance shrugged.  
“I think it just that he and I weren’t close, and we wanted to make it perfect, but once we got past the awkwardness of kissing each other we were able to y’know. Kiss each other.” He handed Keith his beer. 

“I guess I’m the only one left.” He said and shrugged.  
“Well I’ve only had romances with girls on screen, so I thought all of them were awkward. But there was one where the directors didn’t really tell us exactly what to do. It was a full on make out scene and the only directions we got was ‘just go with what feels right’. Which, what the fuck am I supposed to do with that?” They laughed at him. “Nothing feels right but okay?? So anyway, we were making out and she takes off her shirt so I take off mine. Then she straight up grabs me,” Lance chokes on his beer quickly and Keith smirks at his while he pauses his story.  
“And Im trying to play it cool and stuff but the shot was waist up so she didn’t have to do that??” Pidge and Lance laugh loudly at him. Shiro joins in as well. Hunk and Allura laugh a little but mostly are polite. 

They finish Iron Man so they put in Pidge’s movie, even though she said “I will kill all of you”. They all just laughed and she brought a couple of bottles of various alcohol into the living room.  
“I’m not watching this sober.” She said while sitting back down on the ground in front of the couch. 

Half way through the movie someone suggested that they play a drinking game. They all agreed so Hunk got some shot glasses and some vodka, fireball, and some beer for those who didn’t want shots. 

“Wait wait wait...” Shiro said, he’s been tipsy awhile now.  
“How old are all of you?” He asked them. 

“Wait! No one say anything! I wanna see if I remember everyone’s age.” Lance said.  
“Why do you know all our ages?” Keith asked from next to him.  
“As soon as I got the cast list I looked everyone up. I learned as much about everyone as I could.” Allura awwed, Keith and Pidge agreed that they thought it was weird. Lance brushed them off. 

“Okay, Keith and I are both twenty four. Hunk is twenty five. Pidge is twenty two. Allura is twenty seven, and Shiro is twenty nine. How’d I do?” Everyone nodded their heads.  
“Man I feel old.” Shiro said, Allura rubbed his back. 

“Okay what drinking game?” Hunk asked.  
“I feel like we’re a little old for truth or dare.” Keith said.  
“Never have i ever! It’s a classic and it lets you really get to know each other.” Lance suggested. Everyone agreed so they started. 

“Okay I’ll start, and we’ll go clockwise,” Shiro said. 

“Never have I ever, gone to public school.” Pidge, Hunk, Keith, and Lance all drank. Shiro and Allura had been stars since they were young so they’d always done private school. 

“Never have I ever, dated a girl,” Allura said. Hunk, Lance, Keith, and Shiro drank. 

“Never have I ever, dated a boy,” Pidge went. Shiro, Keith, Allura, and Lance drank. 

“Pidge have you never dated anyone?” Allura asked.  
“Nah I’m aro ace so I’m not really into all that.” Everyone nodded and Shiro have her a supportive Dad Pat ™️. 

“Never have I ever, gotten arrested,” Hunk suggested. Lance and Pidge drank. When the group asked for them to explain they both refused. 

“Never have I ever, had sex with my director,” Lance said, looking directly at Shiro. Shiro rolled his eyes and drank. Allura and Keith also drank. Allura looked a little guilty about it. 

“Never have I ever, been on a show where the director disliked me,” Keith said. Pidge and Lance drank. 

“Never have I ever trespassed,” Shiro said starting the the circle over again. Pidge and Keith drank. 

“Never have I ever smoked marijuana,” Allura said, no one drank. 

“Never have I ever given a blowjob,” Pidge said, she had a little gleam in her eyes. Like she wanted to embarrass them. Everyone but Hunk and Pidge drank. 

“Never have I ever had a one night stand,” Hunk said. Keith, Allura, and Shiro drank.  
“Lance you’ve never had a one night stand?” Hunk asked him.  
“Nah, I’m not opposed to them, I just haven’t. Y’know?” Hunk nodded and they continued. 

“Never have I ever hated my any of my costars,” Lance said. Pidge and Keith drank. 

“Never have I ever had real sex with one of my love interests. Like, not in character,” Keith explained. Allura and Lance drank. Lance held out a high five for Allura and she bashfully gave in. 

They played a couple more rounds but they were all pretty wasted. It was about 11:30. Hunk started putting away any remaining food that wasn’t eaten, but he was pretty drunk so he didn’t finish everything. 

Hunk offered to let anyone sleep in his guest room and in his basement. He did warn everyone that his basement was cold though. 

Allura and Pidge decided to share the guest room. They would share the bed but each have their own sleeping bag. Hunk out out extra blankets and pillows but went to sleep soon after. They were all kind of out of it. 

“Lance you can have the couch. Keith and I will go downstairs.” Shiro told them while grabbing his sleeping bag.  
“Shirooo. The basement is cold. I’m always cold.” Keith said. Lance noticed that he was a whiney drunk. Lance himself was usually a flirty drunk, then later on he became a sad drunk.  
Shiro rolled his eyes.  
“Keith it’s fine, you can stay up here. There’s two couches.” Lance said while he rolled out his sleeping bag.  
“Thanks Lance, I’ll see you in the morning Shiro.” Shiro looked like he was going to argue, but was too tired to care. He went down stairs while Keith rolled out his sleeping bag and turned out the lights. 

“Keith.”  
“Yeah Lance?”  
“Which one of your directors did you sleep with?”  
“What?”  
“While we were playing the game... you said you slept with one of your directors.” Lance drawled out. Neither one of them were completely there at the moment.  
“Oh yeah. Yeah I had a director when I was about nineteen, he was directing just one episode of this show I was a background character in. He was kind of a silver fox sorta guy and once we finished filming that day.... He invited me back to his place and y’know the rest.” 

Lance’s stomach felt weird. He thought it was probably just the alcohol. But his chest felt like there was this weight there. Something was wrong. 

“Silver Fox? How old was he?”  
“Uhm... I don’t know. About fifty.”  
“Fifty?!? You were nineteen!” Lance sat up in his sleeping bag. Keith heard the movement and sat up as well. They couldn’t see each other well in the dark but could kind of make out each other’s outlines from the moonlight.  
“Yeah... it’s Hollywood Lance.”  
“But- that’s just so... gross.” Keith sighed.  
“Yeah, I guess it was.”  
“I didn’t mean to insult you.” Lance said while he lied back down.  
“No it’s fine. You’re right.” Lance could hear Keith lie back down.  
“Don’t tell Shiro, okay?”  
“Why not?” Lance asked.  
“He’d look at me weird. I don’t want that. He’s like my older brother.”  
“He wouldn’t look at you weird.” Lance turned so he was facing Keith.  
“Yeah he would. I told him about a different time I slept with this other guy and I was really excited about it cause he’s kind of famous and all Shiro was worried about was the fact that the guy was older than me.”  
“Well how much older?”  
“About thirty.”  
“That’s a lot older Keith.”  
“Yeah.”  
“Do you only sleep with older guys?”  
“I used to. When I was still in the closet I had went to gay bars but always wore a hat and a ton of makeup so no one would recognize me. And I only slept with men I thought wouldn’t recognize me, so like. I don’t know, older than forty mostly.”  
“I’m sorry.”  
“Why are you apologizing?”  
“I don’t know, it sounds like those guys took advantage of the fact that you were scared of coming out. It’s kind of gross that they specifically targeted you.”  
“It’s gross to want to sleep with me?”  
“What? No Keith that’s not what I meant.”  
“I didn’t realize that someone wanting to sleep with me was so horrible and gross.” Keith sounded angry. He turned away from Lance.  
“No Keith! I meant cause they’re super old and you were younger than twenty! They specifically chose to sleep with someone younger than half their age. That’s what’s gross.” Keith didn’t reply. 

“Keith? Did you fall asleep?”  
Nothing.  
“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”  
Still nothing. 

Lance slowly got out of his sleeping bag, and walked over to the other couch. Keith sat up in his couch when Lance sat on the side of the couch. Their faces were toward each other. Keith was backlit so Lance couldn’t really see his face but Lance’s face was illuminated by the moonlight. 

“Keith I didn’t mean it that way.”  
“I know, I’m just tired and drunk and want to sleep. I’m not mad at you.” Lance let out a breath.  
“You sure?”  
“I mean, I’m kind of upset but it’s not because of what you specially said.”  
“What are you upset about?”  
“That you’re right. I’ve known it for a while and didn’t really ever think about it because I didn’t want to.” Lance waited for him to finish. Keith turned his head slightly and Lance could see just the outline of his nose and his eyelashes. 

“I was... kind of used. By a lot of people.” Keith curled his legs into himself. Lance moved so he was sitting criss cross in front of Keith. 

“And I didn’t mind at the time cause I thought that was the only kind of relationship I could have.” Lance wanted to comfort him but he didn’t know how. His head was swirly and all his thoughts were jumbled. He mostly just wanted to sleep but a bigger part of him kept screaming to hug Keith. To hold him and let him know he was okay. 

“You deserve better Keith.” Keith looked back to Lance. Lance himself was surprised at the words that had come out of him. But he kept talking.  
“You deserve to be with someone who won’t just use you for your body, or your fame. You’re a good guy and I don’t really know you that well but I know that you deserve someone who cares about you. Who respects you.” Lance’s eyes focused a little more, he could see Keith’s face but not the details. 

Lance put his hand on Keith’s knee and kind of pushed it down so he could hug Keith. He wrapped his arms around Keith’s back and rested his head on his shoulder. Keith’s arms slowly wrapped around Lance as well. 

Keith cleared his throat and Lance took the hint to unwrap himself. He leaned back and scratched the back of his neck nervously. 

“Sorry, I’m not really sure where that all came from. I’m pretty drunk as well.” Lance explained. His inner thoughts yelled at him to stop explaining and just fall asleep right there. 

“It’s fine. I mean, it’s better than fine. I- I needed to hear that I think. And sorry, for unloading my shit on you. Hopefully we’ll both forget this all tomorrow.” Lance let out a short laugh. 

“If I don’t go back to my couch I’m gonna fall asleep right here,” Lance said. Keith kicked his back and Lance meandered back to his couch. 

“Night Keith.”  
“Night Lance.” 

Lance thought of everything that just happened. The feeling he had the past two weeks was gone. He didn’t feel insecure around him. Might have been because Keith was sharing something personal with him, but maybe it was something else. 

Lance would have to think about that another time, when his brain wasn’t doing flips. 

He didn’t notice, but his stomach had stopped hurting. And he drifted off to sleep with a blank mind.


	5. Moving Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith’s been ignoring Lance!   
> Robin and Alexander fight like idiots!   
> Keith moves out!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this chapter! I thought it was fun to write so hopefully you’ll enjoy it too! Thank you for reading!!!

Keith had been avoiding Lance since the sleepover. He felt like such a dramatic teenager but what was he going to do? It’s been three weeks and Keith only talks to him in character. Lance plays pranks on him and he just ignores them, he doesn’t want to give in and show a reaction. 

He can’t believe he told all that stuff to Lance! Okay, he can kind of believe because he was drunk out of his mind and he’s known to be a bit of an over sharer when drunk. But still! He never talked about that sort of thing with anyone. He talked about it sometimes with James but never as in depth as he did with Lance. 

Oh god, James. Keith thought. He had just finished moving out of their shared place. James was his old friend, they did a show together a couple years ago and have been close since. A couple months ago James kissed Keith and it got weird. Keith wasn’t ready for any relationship, he’s still figuring out how relationships are even supposed to work. 

He thought James would be considerate of that, they’d been friends for years, but he was mostly just upset. They decided that it was best if Keith moved out and they not talk for a while. It was pretty hard, James was pretty much his only close friend for a long time. And he liked him, a lot. 

So here Keith was. Drinking coffee with sugar and cream in it. It was disgusting. He was watching Shiro and Hunk’s scene finish, he tried not to be in the break room if he could help it. 

He’s pretty sure people knew what he was doing. He’d gotten pretty close with the rest of the cast. He and Allura hung out just last week. He was cool with Hunk and Pidge as well. He was really close with Matt so he texted him a little while ago, he couldn’t tell him how he knew Pidge yet. The cast reveal was next week. 

So he was doing well. Besides that Lance was constantly pranking him and staring into the back of his head. 

Okay, he sometimes talked to him. He couldn’t avoid it sometimes. But he mostly just listened to Lance talk and every once and a while he’d nod along and smile. This only happened if they were in a scene together and there was a lot of time between takes, or whenever they were in hair&makeup at the same time. 

He’d feel bad about it normally, but anytime he thought about that night he cringes. He like... told Lance about his insecurities and past and ew? He barely knows Lance. He doesn’t even talk about that sort of thing with Shiro, mostly cause Shiro would make him go back to therapy.

Once Hunk and Shiro’s scene was done, he was up. He had a scene with a recurring character, she was really nice. The actresses name was Shay, she was cool. Keith was pretty sure her and Hunk were friends. So he had. A scene with her, Allura, Pidge, and Lance. 

While Adam was talking to Allura about her blocking Keith leaned back in his chair. They were in the prep room, so a big table with ugly ass chairs around it. 

“Hey Keith,” Lance said, sitting down in the chair next to him. Yes, Robin was supposed to sit next to him in the scene, their characters were friends by this point. But still, did Lance have to talk to him??

“Hey Lance,” Keith barely looked at him.  
“So episode five, we’re halfway done with the season!” Lance leaned on the table, trying to see Keith better.  
“Uh yeah I guess we are.” Lance frowned, Keith didn’t have time to feel bad though. Adam called action soon after. 

Alexander was proposing a plan for the next episode, it wasn’t too complicated, but it included him taking on a large amount of monsters while the rest of the team split up. The rest of the team split into two groups, Gemma, Robin, and Theo shut down the electrical system by dismantling the security and basically breaking the tech. Gray and Amber snuck in once the system was down, and Alexander would distract the monsters. 

Once Alexander finished proposing his plan to the group, they all looked around uneasily. 

“Alexander you can’t do that!” Robin said standing up.  
“Why not? What’s wrong with it?” Gemma, Amber, and Shay’s character Azaria looked at each other then all sat down. Robin and Alexander got into fights all the time, and when they did the rest of the group just sat back and let it happen. Gray and Theo used to try and stop them, but they’ve learned since then. 

“You’re going to distract an entire group of vamps? You’ll die Alex!” Only Robin ever called him Alex. Alexander looked away, an angry look on his face.  
“You don’t think I can do it!”  
“I think you’re going into something bigger than you, and you’ll die.”  
“Do you have a better plan?!”  
“Yeah! Gemma and Theo don’t need my help, I don’t know shit about tech, I’ll go with you.”  
“No,”  
“Why?!?”  
“It’s up close fighting, you never do up close fighting.”  
“Oh my god,” Robin started pacing. The three girls started to leave the room.  
“We’re just gonna grab Theo and Gray.” Gemma said awkwardly, the three girls left. 

“Why are you so difficult?” Robin asks.  
“I’m being difficult? Why won’t you just let us do my plan? My plans have always worked!”  
“Your plans haven’t ever consisted of you doing your own suicide mission!”  
“It’s not a suicide mission-“  
“Hey guys!” Gray yells at them. They both look up from where they were. They had slowly gotten closer and closer, all their rage spilling into each other, encouraging one another. 

“Both of you, sit down!” The two boys sat and Gray stood in front of him with his arms crossed. 

“Robin, show some respect. Alexander has never led you astray. That being said, Alexander you’re being an idiot and there is no way you’re going in alone.” Alexander scoffed and rolled his eyes. Robin got a cocky look on his face. 

“Robin will go with you, end of discussion. I don’t want to hear any more fighting or I swear I will break both of your arms.” They both nodded and the scene ended with Gray shaking his head while he left the room. 

“Cut! Great job guys, I think we got it.” Coran yelled from his director’s chair. Keith didn’t have anymore scenes today, the rest of today was dedicated to Gemma and Amber’s fight scene with a werewolf. 

Keith decided not to remove his makeup on set, so he just got out of costume and started to leave. 

“Keith wait!” Keith stopped for a second, then decided to keep walking. It was Lance. 

“Keith!” Lance skidded past Keith, he had been running to catch up. He was out of costume but still had his makeup on. Keith could tell because his freckles were muted. 

“Keith why are you ignoring me?”  
“What?”  
“You’ve been ignoring me for like three weeks!” Keith looked away from his face. He couldn’t look at Lance’s face. All he can remember is the embarrassment of that night, he looked at Lance in the moonlight and thought he was gorgeous. 

“I haven’t, I talk to you while doing hair and makeup.” Keith started walking again, he opened the door to the parking lot and put up his sunglasses as the late afternoon sun hit him. Lance grabbed his arm and they stopped walking. 

“Keith that’s such bull! You haven’t talked to me since the party and I want to know why!” He wanted to know why? How could be not clearly see that Keith hated himself for telling him anything? How could he not see that Keith didn’t want anything to do with him. Keith pulled his arm out of his grasp, but he didn’t start walking. 

“You don’t know Lance?! Really?”  
“No! Did I do something that night? I was really drunk and don’t remember like anything after Hunk left. I’m sorry if I did something stupid, please just tell me what it was!” Keith’s jaw dropped. He really didn’t know. 

“You don’t remember?” Lance shook his head, Keith took a moment to look at him again. He looked really upset. Keith turned his head away so he wouldn’t have to look at how sad he was. 

“I’m sorry Keith,” Keith’s stomach turned. He was apologizing when he hadn’t even done anything wrong. He couldn’t let Lance feel bad about this. He had actually helped Keith that night, Keith was just so embarrassed that he needed help. 

“No, Lance. Please don’t apologize, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Keith gave in, he rubbed thumb over his fingers on his other hand. He did that sometimes when he was nervous. 

“I um... I told you something that night because I was also drunk and I’ve been so embarrassed about it that I haven’t wanted to talk to you since.” Lance raised one of his eyebrows and scrunched his eyes.  
“What did you tell me?”  
“Just some stuff from my past, it was stupid and embarrassing. You helped me though. It was sweet of you.” Lance looked taken back.  
“I helped you?”  
“Uhm, yeah. You did. I’m sorry I’ve been giving you the cold shoulder.”  
“I wish you would have just told me. I thought I did something stupid and creepy like make out with you.” Lance said while letting out a sigh. Keith snorted.  
“No, nothing creepy.” Keith looked at the ground. He remembered the way Lance put his hand on his knee, and the way he wrapped his arms around him in a hug.  
“So you really don’t remember anything?” Keith asks him again. Lance gives him a firm shake.  
“Nothing.”  
“Heh, it’s funny. You helped me out and hugged me, I don’t think you’ve ever hugged me before, and you don’t even remember.”  
“Wait, we had a bonding moment AND I cradled you in my arms?!?” Keith and Lance laughed.  
“Weird way to put it, but yeah I guess.” 

“I gotta go, I’m moving into my new place today.” Keith said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder.  
“Need any help?” Lance asked.  
“Oh, um. Yeah I kind of could... I asked Shiro but he’s got an interview thing.”  
“Pfft, cast isn’t even out yet and he already has an interview. Anyway, stay right here, I’m gonna grab my stuff.” 

Keith looked around the parking lot, checking for paparazzi. They like to swarm studios. He didn’t see any, this was a pretty underused studio so it made sense, but he likes to check no matter what. 

Lance ran out of the building with his bag and stopped next to Keith.  
“Okay, I’ll follow your car to your old place and then help move stuff to your car, then drive over to the new place and help you move stuff in there. Sound good?”  
“Yeah, but you don’t have to do this.”  
“I don’t mind, I have nothing planned for today.” 

They drove over to Keith’s old condominium, and parked in the parking structure.  
They got out and Keith grabbed his keys. 

“Okay, I have everything in boxes so it should be easy, just moving said boxes.” He told Lance while he was unlocking the door. Something was wrong, he took his keys out. The door was unlocked. 

“Shit,” Keith’s eyes grew big.  
“What? Were you robbed or something?” Lance asked, they both walked into the place slowly.  
“No, my old roommate is here. I assumed he’d be at work.” Keith spun to face Lance, he pointed a finger in his face.  
“You can not say anything weird to him!” Lance put his hands in a surrender position, but he was holding back a smile. 

They started moving boxes, transferring them to Lance and Keith’s cars. James came out of his room a couple minutes in. 

“Keith?” He asked, looking around the place.  
Keith winced at Lance and he turned slightly to look at James. 

He was standing in the hallway with grey sweat pants and one of Keith’s black shirts. He knows it’s his cause James doesn’t own any. 

“Sorry, I thought you’d be at work.” Keith shoved his hands in his pockets.  
“No it’s fine,” James’s eyes flicked to Lance. His eyebrows scrunched up. “Who’s he?” He tilted his chin towards Lance. 

“Uh hi, I’m Lance.” Lance awkwardly waved.  
“Co worker for a new show.” Keith explained to James. James’s face didn’t settle at all. 

“Well, do you need any help?” He offered to Keith.  
“You don’t have to do that James, it’s fine.” Lance started taking things back out to the cars, he probably could tell that they wanted some alone time. 

Once Lance had left, Keith walked over to James.  
“I’m sorry, again, James.”  
“Keith, it’s fine. I’m sorry I got so mad about the whole thing. But I think it’s still best for you to move out...”  
“I agree, but... I hope we can still be friends.” James nods. Keith leans forward and kisses him real quick on the lips. James smiles at him. Keith always liked his smile. It made his chest feel warm. 

He vaguely saw Lance come back inside and he moved away from James. Lance minded his own business though, just grabbing another box and leaving. 

“I suppose you want your shirt back,” James said.  
“Heh, no. Uh, you keep it. You can always use a black t shirt.” They smiled at each other, and Keith went back to packing his car. Lance didn’t ask any questions, which Keith was both surprised by and grateful for. 

Once they were done, Keith and James hugged, and James shook Lance’s hand. He waved them off and Keith and Lance drove off. 

Once they got to Keith’s new place, Lance got out of his car with a huge smile.  
“Keith! My apartment complex is like, around the corner!” Keith was actually surprised that Lance lived in an apartment. He knows Allura, Hunk, and Shiro all had their own houses. Keith only got another condo because he hates empty space. 

“Oh no, this means you’re gonna be here all the time doesn’t it?” Keith groaned. Lance hit his arm. “Only once your dog is here.” They started bringing the boxes in. The condo was nicely positioned, it was at the end of the street, and was in a dead end. The condos around him were owned by old tv show stars, so he probably won’t get much flak from anyone here. 

“Hey Keith,” Lance asked when they were half way through moving boxes.  
“What?”  
“Why didn’t you tell me you and James were dating? I wouldn’t have told anyone.” Keith sighed. “We weren’t dating.” Lance gave him a bitch face.  
“I saw you guys kissing.” Keith put his hands in his face. Why? Why did he keep doing embarrassing stuff in front of Lance.  
“We were friends, and we almost dated but... didn’t.”  
“Oh I’ve been there. The ‘almost’.” Keith looked to him. Lance didn’t even realize that he’d said something that meant something so profoundly to Keith. 

“Yeah...” They finished unloading the boxes from the car. The place was already furnished so they luckily didn’t have to move any furniture. They sat down on a couch when they got into living room. 

“Was he what you told me about when drunk?”  
“What? No. Something else.” Lance didn’t push which was good. 

Keith starts to unpack his clothing into his dresser in his room. Lance flops onto his bed.  
“Yes, please make yourself comfortable in my new bed.” Keith mumbled sarcastically. 

Lance helped a little with him unpacking, but mostly he just skipped through Keith’s tv. Keith said he didn’t have to stay, but Lance said he didn’t mind. Keith rolled his eyes at that. 

“So when’s your dog getting here?” Lance asked while Keith was ordering dinner.  
“Not until tomorrow, quick, do you want anything?” Keith showed him the menu. Lance got off his couch and grabbed the menu. He pointed to something and Keith ordered it. 

It arrived a little while later and they ate while watching one of Hunk’s tv shows. 

“Wait, we gotta take a selfie with Hunk on screen and send it to him!” Lance said, he set his food down and pulled Keith into a photo with him. 

It was a pretty good picture, Keith admitted. Hunk was clearly in the background, and Lance had this bright smile and his arm wrapped around Keith’s neck. Keith had a smile on, but just because he was laughing. He noticed Lance save the photo on Snapchat before captioning it and sending it to Hunk. 

“So how do you think people will react to the cast list?” Lance asked him a couple minutes later.  
“Uh, they’ll probably be psyched to see Allura and Shiro in something together. They’ll also probably realize how weird it is that all of us are from like, different genres of media.” Keith chuckled. Lance paused before talking.  
“Oh yeah. I guess we are. Shiro is usually indie, Allura does serious and sometimes romances, Hunk does comedy, Pidge does sci-fi, you do supernatural, and I do musical stuff. Huh.” Lance leaned back in the couch. Keith kind of appreciated how comfortable Lance made himself. 

“Wait why’d they cast us all from different genres for a supernatural show? Wait Keith why’d you mention that, now I’m confused.” Keith laughed and threw out their empty takeout packs. 

“I think that people will automatically see how hot we all are, and we’ll attract a ton of LGBT+ fans.” Lance said when Keith sat back down.  
“Are those two things connected or...?”  
“Heh, yes and no. People of course will notice that we’re all hot. And LGBT+ people will want to watch cause there’s four members of the community starring. But they connect because all the bisexuals will be in love with every cast members!” Keith started laughing, Lance started laughing when he saw how hard Keith was laughing. Keith hit his shoulder.  
“You can’t assume stuff like that!”  
“I’m bi! I’m allowed to say it!” Keith rolled his eyes. 

They talked for a little while longer. Mostly about the show. Lance left around eight. Keith walked around his new place. It was so... quiet. And empty. He liked it better when he wasn’t alone. He missed James. It’d be better when Kosmo got there. 

But he went to sleep that night. He felt better knowing that Lance didn’t remember their drunk talk. And he was glad he and Lance were taking again. He actually liked having him around. Even if he was kind of annoying. If he was honest though, he never really annoyed him. He just acted like he did. He liked Lance. And maybe he was just looking for a new friend right now because of James, but he was glad to have another friend.


	6. Upcoming Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cast list is out!  
> Cast goes on talk show!  
> Lance talks to family back home!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is Spanish in this chapter, I am not a native speaker. I got every translation from Google translate, if something is incorrect please tell me and I will fix it ASAP. Translations at the end of the chapter!

They had four more episodes to film, and the cast list had just been released to the public. They were all booked up with interviews, group and individual. 

Lance hadn’t gotten this kind of attention since his last show ended. It was kind of nice. He was now more famous just by association. He himself wasn’t super famous, but since he was in an huge upcoming show with the Takashi Shirogane and the Allura Altea. He felt so comfortable with the cast now, he didn’t have any doubts about how well these interviews would go. 

“Hey Lance!” Hunk yelled to him, they were about to leave for the day, they’d just finished filming episode six.  
“Hey man!” Lance stopped walking and waited for Hunk to catch up with him. 

“I don’t know if your agent has informed you yet, but tonight’s our first interview with the whole cast!” Hunk was telling him with his normal happy smile.  
“Yeah! I’m super excited! It’s with the Hottest Upcoming Stars show right? Hosted by Lotor Galtean?” Hunk nodded. He’d never met Lotor before but he used to be a model, and then got his own talk show a few years later. He mostly just interviewed casts of new or upcoming shows. 

“Dude, I used to have a crush on Lotor, don’t tell him okay?” Lance laughed while telling Hunk.  
“Dude, you’ve had a crush on almost everyone.” Hunk chuckled, Lance shrugged.  
“You’re not wrong!” 

“What’s he not wrong about?” Keith was suddenly right next to them, he’s a fast and quiet walker, Lance thought. 

“Just that Lance is attracted to like, every celebrity.” Hunk was really exposing him.  
“Hunk!” Keith laughed at them. The kind of small laugh where he covered his mouth with his hand. Lance thought it was almost cute. 

“That’s true, you comment at least once a week how hot everyone in this cast was.” Keith stopped laughing. Everyone was calling Lance out, geez. 

“Dios Mio, you don’t have to call me out like this you two!” Lance hardly spoke Spanish in front of the cast, he knew none of them knew what he was saying. He’s occasionally say something just to confuse them, but he knew his accent was even deeper when he spoke Spanish. Some things just came naturally though, it wasn’t a conscious thing all the time. 

Keith and Hunk laughed at him and they all went back to their homes to get ready for their interview that night. 

“ Está bien mamá, te llamaré después. Te quiero.” Lance hung up his phone. His mom called him as soon as she saw the cast list. He was going to Skype his family tomorrow. But for now, he had an interview to get to. 

He was tapping his leg anxiously as he waited off stage with the rest of the cast. He was wearing a nice navy blue suit with a black button up underneath. He thought he looked nice, handsome. That’s not what he was nervous about. He hadn’t been in front of a live audience in ages. 

“Hey, everything’s going to be alright.” Allura said, taking his hand gently. He looked up to see her smiling, reassuring face. He sighed and nodded. 

Allura was wearing a light pink dress, her hair was up in a bun. She looked gorgeous, as always. Pidge had on a forest green pantsuit. Shiro wore a plain black suit and a white bow tie. Hunk wore a golden jacket with a white button up and black dress pants. Keith was wearing a maroon jacket, with black dress pants and button up. His tie was the same maroon as his jacket. 

“I know, it’s just been a while.” He said, squeezing her hand. Hunk wrapped his arm around his shoulder.  
“We got you,” he assured him.  
“Aww, everyone! Group hug!” Allura stage whispered to everyone. Shiro and Hunk immediately joined, Pidge slowly joined when Allura grabbed her hand. Keith rolled his eyes and hugged the group. Lance felt all safe and warm with them. His eyes almost watered but he kept the tears in. 

“Sorry to break this up, but you’re being welcomed on stage in about two minutes.” A polite stage hand told them. They all laughed quietly and pulled away. 

“And now, please welcome, the upcoming cast of ‘Hollowed Out’!” They heard Lotor announce them, and they started walking onstage. Shiro led, then Allura, Hunk, Lance, Keith, and Pidge. 

The applause was huge, the fans already loved them. Lance smiled his award winning smile and waved to the crowd. The others did as well. They all sat down on the long couch, that was next to Lotor’s desk that was in front of his chair. 

As the applause settled down, Lotor looked at the cast. Man, thought Lance. Now his smile was award winning. He had on a dark purple jacket and dress pants with a black button up. 

“It’s so nice to meet you all! So as we all know, the cast list for your show came out this week!” More applause rang out. 

“So how has filming gone so far?” He asked the group. Shiro, naturally, went first. 

“Well first of all, we’re so excited to be on your show!” More applause. “The filming has gone great so far! We all know our characters really well, and the writing is genius!” Shiro finished.  
“Yes, we’ve all gotten very close along the last couple months, and I think that just makes it even more fun and maybe even improves the show quite a bit.” Allura tells the crowd. 

“So for those in the crowd who may not recognize all of you, do you all mind introducing yourselves real quickly? Also maybe something a little personal about yourselves that the audience might not know.” Lotor asks of us. 

“Of course! I’m Takashi Shirogane! I usually go by Shiro. And something you might not know is that I recently got married!” The crowd cheers loudly. Shiro had married Adam like last year, but it was a private wedding so most fans didn’t know about it until recently. Shiro’s smile shown brightly, Lance loved how he got that smile any time he talked about Adam. It was sweet. 

“I’m Allura Altea! I’m sure you can tell that I am British, but most people don’t know that I was born in Birmingham!” 

“Hello, I’m Hunk Garret! And I love cooking! I’m thinking of writing my own cookbook some day!” 

“Hello everyone! I’m Lance McClaine, and I was born and raised in Cuba!” Lance wasn’t sure if his fans new that, he had the accent but sometimes people couldn’t recognize that it was from Cuba specifically. He also had to use an American accent for his last show, so a casual viewer wouldn’t have even heard his real voice. 

“I’m Keith Kogane, and most people think I’m a cat person, but I actually prefer dogs.” Lance chuckled quietly at that and looked at him. Keith was specifically calling Lance out. He had said the same thing to him last week when he’d met Kosmo. Keith subtly smiled at him, giving him a bit of side eye, but not in the annoyed way. 

“And I’m Katie Holt! I don’t think most people know this, but I go by my nickname my brother gave me, Pidge.” Lance didn’t know Matt gave her that nickname. He still hadn’t met Matt, but Pidge said that he was coming to town next week. 

“Wonderful! So your show, ‘Hollowed Out’, what would you say it’s about?” Lotor asked them. 

“I’d say it’s about a group of people who have to come together to save the world. They’re all different but are connected by their shared experiences and trauma.” Keith explained quite eloquently. Shiro and Lance looked at him surprised. He usually wasn’t one to step up and respond when other people could do it for him. 

“That’s a great way to explain it. If I could add anything I’d just say that it’s a group that becomes a family and finds a way to save the world while it’s falling down around them.” Allura adds quickly. Lance notices that Lotor smiles softly at Allura anytime she speaks. He smirks at that. 

“There’s also monsters! Tons of fighting and action!” Lance thinks to add, the audience laughs at this. Lotor chuckles. 

“One last question, what is each of your favorite things about working on this show?” Lotor leaned into his desk slightly. His dyed white hair was at his shoulders, the way it complimented his darker complexion was gorgeous. No wonder Lance had a crush on him when he was still a model. He could still model now, Lance thought. 

“I’d have to say the writing. The writing for the show is absolutely fantastic. And the directors really understand the show and the characters. It’s quite refreshing to work with such a great, understanding team!” Shiro told Lotor.  
“I’m sure it helps that your husband is one of the directors,” Lotor smiled at Shiro. Shiro’s face flushed a bit.  
“Hah, yes it certainly doesn’t hurt.” 

“My favorite thing is the supernatural elements in the show. I’ve never worked on any fictional show and I quite enjoy the myths and legends that this show has.” Allura says, Lotor’s eyes catch hers and they smile at each other. 

“I really like working with all these wonderful people! The cast of course is amazing, and our crew is fantastic. We have so much talent on set every day and it’s such a fun yet professional environment.” Hunk explains, he talks with his hands a lot, Lance hadn’t noticed that before. Maybe he was nervous. 

“I personally love my character. His name is Robin, and I can’t reveal much about him yet, but he’s super cool. I think his storyline and overall character arch over the course of the series is really something special.” Lance was kind of just saying what came to his head. He wasn’t lying, of course. He did love Robin, and he’d play Robin as long as the show would let him. He just didn’t expect himself to say that. 

“I really love the fighting sequences. We have this amazing choreographer, Acxa Marmora. She choreographs every fight scene and she’s a wonderful teacher. I do my own stunts for this show and I really love how action packed it is.” Keith rambles a bit, he gets flustered if he doesn’t prepare things. 

“My favorite thing is also my character. Gemma is just such a wild card. She’s a tech genius but also like crazy good at fighting. She’s just, an inspiration to me personally.” The crowd claps for us all. 

“Well it was so wonderful meeting you all! And everyone make sure to tune into any news about ‘Hollowed Out’! Everyone have a wonderful night!” We all waved to the crowd while walking off stage. 

Once we were off stage Lance hugged the closest person to him, he was so excited about the show and his fans and just, everything. 

The person closest to him happened to be Keith. He threw his arms around his shoulders and spun a bit. Keith laughed in his ear but he didn’t mind. 

“Guys! That was so cool!” Lance said, letting go of Keith. He kept one hand on Keith’s shoulder though. The rest of them all smiled, there was an electricity of excitement between all of them. 

Lotor walked over to them, smooth and suave as ever.  
“Thank you all so much for coming on my show, I look forward to seeing your show when it comes out.” His voice sounds like velvet somehow? 

He and Allura started talking about something, Lance kept wiggling his eyebrows at her when Lotor wasn’t looking. She would make wide eyes at him and blush. 

They all decided it was best to let her be, so they all left the offstage area. 

“So Keith, you’re a dog person?” Pidge asked him when they were all walking down the hallway.  
“Yeah! I have a dog named Kosmo, why?” Keith’s eyes light up when he talks about Kosmo. Lance liked that about him.  
“I have a dog named Bae Bae!” They spent the next couple minutes talking about dogs. Hunk and Lance just looked at each other with a tired smile.  
Shiro called Adam as soon as they were away from Allura and Lotor. 

“Adam! Hey!” They all turned to him, they wanted to know his reaction to their interview. 

“Yeah it was great! Did you watch it?” Shiro asks, we couldn’t hear what Adam was saying.  
“Put him on speaker!” Pidge whisper shouted. Shiro did so. 

“It was great! People on Twitter are already blowing up about how well it went!” Adam exclaimed through the phone. 

“So we did well?” Hunk asked nervously.  
“You did great! People love how casual you were with each other and they can really see the bond you guys have formed.” Adam told them. Hunk and Lance high fived. 

“I suspect that the show’s popularity will only grow from here. You have a ton of interviews set up for the next month or so. Keep up the good work!” Adam said. Shiro took him off speaker and they quietly talked about domestic things. Shiro tried not to show much of his relationship in front of them. Mostly cause Keith made fun of him. But they could hear Shiro say “Okay I’ll be home soon. Love you too.” Lance’s heart melted. They’re so cute and healthy and happy and it made Lance weak. 

Allura came down the hallway, her face all flushed and her eyes still wrinkled from smiling. Her face had a light smile, she was looking down at the ground. 

“Was that Adam?” She asked when Shiro had hung up. He nodded and filled her in on the good news. 

They got out into the parking lot, the lamppost’s light made a nice vibe for the night. Lance grabbed both of Allura’s hands and spun them around. Allura laughed and she blushes. 

“Soooo how’d it go with Mr. Handsome?!” He asked her, wiggling his eyebrows more. She laughed and averted her gaze, Lance could tell she was blushing again. Hunk and Keith stood near them, both crossing their arms, but they had amused looks on their faces. Pidge stood next to Lance and started wiggling her eyebrows too. Shiro laughed softly and looked at the group fondly. 

“Nothing happened if that’s what you’re asking,” she slipped her hands out of Lance’s and got her keys out of her purse. She started walking to her car.  
“Soo he didn’t ask you out?” Lance asked while following her. She smiled and looked down.  
“No, we did exchange phone numbers, but that is all!” Lance and Hunk gasped. Keith and Pidge smirked at her.  
“OoOOooh Allura’s got a boyfriend!” Pidge and Lance mocked her. She rolled her eyes but continued to smile.  
“I’m sure he was just being friendly,” she explained.  
“Oh yeah, I’m sure he was real friendly,” Pidge said suggestively while nudging Lance. They both laughed. 

Allura sighed. “I will see you all on Monday!” She got into her car and started to leave. She was smiling all the while. 

“Man, they could make the Perfect human together.” Lance told the rest of the group.  
“I was actually thinking the same thing.” Hunk said, they high fived. 

“We should all get going, it’s dark out now.” Shiro told them. “Good job tonight, I’ll see you all on Monday.” He walked to his car. Pidge and Hunk walked back to Hunk’s car, they carpooled here. 

“We should carpool.” Lance said to Keith as they walked to their cars. They usually parked next to each other.  
“What?” Keith wasn’t really paying attention.  
“Hunk and Pidge carpool because they live in the same neighborhood. You and I live even closer than they do, so we should carpool!” Keith stopped walking and leaned against his car, contemplating. 

“Alright, but I like to go to set early.” Lance jumped, he was excited. It’d been an exciting day all around for him. 

“So I’ll pick you up at six-thirty on Monday morning?” Keith asked. Lance winced at how early they had to wake up.  
“I’ll walk to your place, that way I can see Kosmo every morning.” Keith chuckled and nodded.  
“It’s a deal, see you then.” Lance nodded and they went their separate ways. 

Lance woke up that Sunday at seven. He had a few things to do that day, but for the most part Sundays were his off day. They never filmed on Sunday, so usually he’d go shopping. 

He put on an old t shirt and flannel, along with black jeans, a baseball hat, and a pair of sunglasses. He did this every time he went to the store. He tried to get in and out as fast as possible. Shiro and Allura told him to get a personal shopper just once a week, but Lance didn’t think he was famous enough for that yet.  
He had no idea what the rest of them did. He’s pretty sure Hunk didn’t wear a disguise, he’s usually cool with fans as long as they don’t follow him home or anything. Like he’d hide from delivery people but not at the store. 

Lance got what he needed from the store as quickly as possible. He used the no human interaction check out so no one would see his name on his credit card. Once he was home he put on some music and started to put things away. 

His phone buzzed from his countertop, he finished with his groceries then checked the text. 

Mama: Lance! La familia espera tu llamda!  
Lance: Un momento, te Skype 

He got out his computer and set it up in his living room, making sure to have a nice background. 

He called them, they picked up on the second ring. 

“Lance!” Several voices shouted over each other. Lance’s chest filled with warmth and he smiled brightly. 

“Hey guys!” He said to them. He mostly spoke in English with his siblings and their children, but his mother wasn’t as fluent so he spoke in Spanish to her mostly. 

“Lance! You’re working with so many famous people!” His sister Rachel yelled at him. She was technically his twin but he ignored that most of the time.  
“I know! They’re all very nice.” He told them. His sister Veronica moved Rachel to talk to him.  
“What’s it like? Are they super cool?” She asked him. He chuckled, very on brand for his family.  
“Heh, yes they’re all very cool and fun.” 

“Como has estado?” His mother called from the kitchen. She was busy making dinner. Her accent was much thicker than his, his accent came out more when he spoke to them though  
“Estoy genial, el show va bien!” He told his mother. She came into view of the camera and waved to him. 

“Lance te ves tan delgado!” She said once she saw him. He rolled his eyes.  
“Mamá! I’m fine, really.”  
She narrowed her eyes but smiled. She blew him a kiss through the screen and he blew one back. 

They called for a while, he got to see all his siblings. Marco was in town with his wife Ruby, and their kids Mateo and Estel. His younger brother Luis was there of course, he was in his senior year of high school. His older sister Veronica had moved back in temporarily after their dad had died a couple years ago. And Rachel was just visiting, she usually lived in another town, she was a senior in college there. 

He was really grateful to have been able to talk to them for as long as he did. They talked about Rachel’s college, and Luis’s classes, and how Mateo was almost old enough for kinder garden. Lance loved hearing about their lives, he missed them all so much. 

“I hope I can visit after we finish filming. At least for a week. It’d be great to see you all in person.” They all agreed. They all wanted to know more about his celebrity friends, he rolled his eyes at them. It was fair that they were curious, Lance knew these people and worked with them everyday, it was normal for him. For his family though, the most famous person they’d ever met is him. 

“So are you dating anyone?” Veronica finally asked. Lance sighed, he knew the question would come eventually.  
“No, I am not dating anyone.” He rolled his eyes when they groaned at him.  
“You haven’t dated someone in years! Since Nyma right?” Rachel asked. Nyma was another cast member on his musical show. He dated her for like, a year. It wasn’t super serious but to his family it was. He almost never dated, even though he flirted with everyone he met. 

“Yeah, I just haven’t met anyone.” Veronica and Rachel looked at each other. Then back to him, they were giving him the most ‘that’s bull shit’ face he’d seen from them. 

“You’re working with like, so many hot famous people! You’re telling me you haven’t slept with any of them?!?” Luis asked. Marco lightly slapped his shoulder. Luckily their mom didn’t hear. 

“Okay, enough of this. I am not dating anyone! If I do start dating someone, I’ll tell you!” They hung up soon afterward. 

He lies down on his couch. He really did miss them. They joked around a lot but they always supported him. When he came out they were so kind and accepting. He thought it would go badly because his parents were raised catholic. But they both agreed that they loved him far more than they hated gay people. It was slow progression at first, but they’d gone from ‘I love my son more than I hate gay people’ to ‘I love my son, and gay people.’ 

They’d never gone to pride with him or anything, but it still meant a lot to him. He’d only had one boyfriend, his first year in America. He brought him home and as soon as his mom and dad saw how in love they were, all their prejudices started to melt away. His mother said that she loved the LGBT+ community because they loved Lance. Lance cried at that, and they hugged. 

They watched his show too! Where he played a gay character in a loving relationship with a couple of different men along the series. His dad died halfway through the show and he came home for the funeral. 

It was a tragedy, but they’d grown from it and have been able to move on with out staying stuck in despair. 

He remembers how his mother grabbed his hand after his father had been buried. She rested her head on his shoulder and they both cried. 

A tear falls from Lance’s face as he remembers that day. It was a couple years ago but it still hurts. His father died. He thought about him often, and he did everything he could to live for his father. 

A buzz from his phone snapped him from his haze. He sat up, wiped the tears off his face and looked at his texts. 

Shiro😩: Here’s some of the photos from the interview yesterday. If you post them make sure to only speak politely and credit the photographer and Lotor’s show.  
Shiro😩: [picture of them walking on stage] [picture of all of them sitting together] [picture of them laughing] [closeup of Shiro talking] [closeup of Allura smiling] [closeup of Hunk laughing] [closeup of Keith and Lance smiling at each other] [closeup of Lance explaining something happily] [closeup of Keith smirking] [closeup of Pidge smiling] 

Lance smiled at the pictures. The one of Keith and Lance especially. That was when Keith was talking about how he was a dog person and they looked at each other because it was an inside joke. He can imagine that since the audience didn’t know that, it looks a little.... suspicious. 

All the other photos were amazing. They quality was great, the angles made them all look gorgeous, and the pictures really capture each other their personalities. 

He got more texts from the group chat 

Allura✨: This are wonderful! Thank you! I’ll tag you all in my Instagram and Twitter post 

Hunky Bear: Oh my goodness we look amazing!

Mullet: Shiro are you talking about Adam in that pic?  
Mullet: You always get that stupid ‘I’m in love’ face whenever you talk about him 

Lance looked at which one he was talking about. It was taken when he was talking about having just been married. His face had a little blush and his smile was adorable. 

Shiro😩: ... yes

Mullet: Knew it 

Pidgeon: You’re one to talk Keith  
Pidgeon: Look at that picture of you and Lance 

Lance rolled his eyes. He knew what it looked like. 

Lance: We were smiling about an inside joke! 

Pidgeon: Surrre

Lance went to bed soon after. He had to walk over to Keith’s early tomorrow morning. He took a quick shower then settled in for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation for the Spanish that was used in this chapter. 
> 
> “Dios Mio” - My God!  
> “ Está bien Mamá, te llamré después. Te quiero.” - Alright mom, I’ll call you later. Love you.  
> “La familia espera tu llamada” - The family is waiting for your call  
> “Un momento te Skype” - One moment, I’ll Skype you  
> “Como has estado” - How have you been  
> “Estoy genial, el show va bien” - I’m great, the show is going well  
> “Lance te ves tan delgado!” - Lance you look thin!


	7. Confusing Dances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance started carpooling!   
> Surprise guest!   
> Lance being hella confused!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is interesting to say the least. I hope you all enjoy it! Also thank you to everyone who’s left comments, it makes my day!

Keith was eating toast when there was a knock at his door. He knew who it was, he was surprisingly on time. Keith walked over to the door, asking Kosmo politely to stop barking. He opened the door and Lance let himself in. 

“Come on in,” Keith said sarcastically. He closed the door behind him and watched as Lance kneeled over to pet Kosmo. 

“Awe who’s a good girl? You are! Yes you are Kosmo!” Lance cooed at her, Kosmo jumped into his lap and started licking his face. Keith rolled his eyes at Lance’s dog voice. 

“You’re on time today,” Keith commented while going back to his breakfast.   
“Yeah, I took a shower last night in stead of this morning. Made things quicker.” He told Keith, still petting Kosmo. 

It’d been about a week since they started carpooling and he has only been on time twice. The first day, and now today. Keith didn’t mind too horribly, he was never horrendously late, usually just fifteen minutes. Keith just used that time to scroll through social media. Pictures of the cast from different interviews were everywhere now. People were very excited about the show. They only had three more episodes to film, which is about four weeks of filming, due to fight sequences having to be taught and what not. 

“You’re still eating breakfast I see. Looks like I’m not the late one today.” Lance stood up from the floor and leaned on Keith’s counter. 

“I’ve gotten used to you being late, okay?” He said, finishing off his toast. 

Lance laughed at him, but not for long. Keith grabbed his arm and they walked out to Keith’s car. Lance tried to plug his phone in to the aux but Keith wouldn’t let him. 

“I’m driving,” Keith said and put on the same playlist he always does. It’s filled with punk rock and punk pop. Lance just called it ‘Keith’s emo playlist’. 

“If I drive us will you let me play my music?” Lance asked when they pulled out of the driveway. 

“What? You’re not gonna drive my car! You’ll crash it.” Keith told him while starting their drive to the studio.   
Lance scoffed and put a hand to his chest. “What? I am a wonderful driver I’ll have you know.” Lance told him.   
“Come on Keith! I’m tired of listening to this angry/sad music!” Keith looked at Lance briefly when at a stop light. Lance pouted and Keith rolled his eyes.   
“You can drive us tomorrow, we’ll see how you do. Okay? Just stop whining.” Lance claps and Keith tries to hide his smile. He liked hanging out with Lance. It was nice to have him around from time to time. He evened out Keith’s grumpiness. 

They arrived to the studio. Usually they were the first cast members here, besides occasionally Shiro. But today they saw Allura get out of her car as they pulled in. 

Lance got out of the car and waved to her.   
“Hey Allura!” He said, she turned to see him and Keith getting out of the same car. She smiled and waved back at both of them. Keith waved and started to walk with Lance. Allura waited for them by the door. 

“You guys are here awfully early.” She commented when they were walking down the halls.   
“Oh we always come in early, you usually show up a couple minutes after us.” Lance explained.   
“Yes I like to be early. I didn’t know you came here together everyday.” She tilted her head while talking to them. Keith knew exactly what she meant. 

He was about to clear things up when Lance said “Yep, for about a week now I think.” Keith was going to explain to Allura that it wasn’t what she thought it was, but he decided to let it be. Lance didn’t even notice how she smiled at them, like she knew a secret. 

Keith was sitting in the break room with Shiro, Lance and some of the recurring cast members like Shay, Ryan and Ezor. They were in the next scene, waiting for Allura, Hunk, and Pidge to be done with their scene. 

He heard someone walking down the hallway, humming a song quietly. Then the person popped his head into the break room, he recognized the group in there and walked in. 

“Matt?!” Keith almost yelled, causing Shiro to look up from his book, and Ryan to drop his prop. 

Matt smiled and walked over to Keith, they hugged quickly. Keith and Matt got along famously. Even after he and Shiro broke up they kept in contact. 

“Hey Keith! How’s it hanging?” Matt asked when they pulled apart. Keith was smiling like an idiot, Matt’s been on tour for a while and he hasn’t seen him in more than a year. 

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa....” Lance stood up and rushed over to where Keith and Matt were standing. 

“Matt? Like Matt Holt? Pidge’s brother and Shiro’s.....” Lance rambled, looking at Shiro slowly. 

“The one and only. Hey Shiro, what’s up man.” Matt nodded at him and Shiro walked over. They hug and Shiro claps him on the back. 

“I’m doing great, how about you?” Shiro asks.   
“Pretty great as well, my tour just ended.” Matt responded. He, Shiro, and Keith chatted casually for a few more minutes. Lance looked between the three of them over and over again. 

“Wait, wait, wait, how are you guys so cool? Didn’t you guys date?” Lance interrupts their conversation to ask his question. Shiro and Matt look at each other and smile awkwardly. 

“Yeah man, we dated like... what? Eight years ago? We were friends before and we’ve been friends since.” Matt explained to Lance, he had a sympathetic expression, like he understood Lance’s confusion. 

Lance gaped at the two of them. Like he couldn’t understand how anyone could be friends with their ex. 

“But- but, you guys are just cool?” Shiro sighed and scratched the back of his neck.   
“Yeah Lance,” he said.   
“Oh yeah, congrats on the wedding by the way! Adam’s great!” Matt told Shiro, Shiro smiled and thanked him. 

“So you’ve had sex with each other, met each other’s parents, and dated for how long? And you’re just friends now?” Keith grabbed Lance’s bicep and pulled back a little.   
“Maybe lay off the questions,” he whispered to him. Lance looked at him, his eyes full of confusion, but they settled once he looked at Keith. 

“Right, Sorry guys.” Lance told them. Matt laughed in good nature.   
“It’s alright man, it’s confusing for some people.”   
“It’s just that, Shiro was so embarrassed whenever we talk about you guys dating. So I assumed that it ended badly-“ Lance rambled on trying to explain himself. Keith pulled back on his arm again. 

“Oh you were embarrassed of me?” Matt asks Shiro, he’s smirking at him, obviously teasing him.   
“I wasn’t embarrassed of dating you, I was embarrassed that we were talking about it in front of your sister!” Shiro explained.   
Matt just laughed at them. 

“Matt?!” Pidge enters the break room with Hunk and Allura. Matt turns around and breaks in to a huge smile. Pidge smiles as well and they walk into a hug.   
“You weren’t supposed to come in until tomorrow!” Pidge says into Matt’s shoulder. They slipped out of their embrace.   
“Yeah, I got to town early and decided to surprise you at work! I ran into a few of your costars here and started chatting them up.” Pidge punches his arm but laughs. 

“Yeah why didn’t you tell me you dated Takashi Shirogane?!?” She scolds him. Matt scratches the back of his neck. 

“I’m not sure, it was so long ago and I had just come out as pan and it was just complicated.” Pidge gave him a forgiving smile. 

Keith had to go to his next scene, Shiro and Lance went with him. 

When they were done with the scene- it took like ten takes, Lance kept getting distracted- they all met back up in the break room. 

“So we’re going out right?” Matt asked while everyone was changing out of their makeup. He stood behind Pidge and made comments every couple of seconds. Everyone agreed that they would go out to a club afterwards. One of the hard to get in to, famous people all around type. It was called ‘Spiral’, Keith had been there a few times, but you had to be pretty famous to get in. Or at least friends with famous people. 

“Wait, Matt! Idea!” Pidge says while finishing up taking her makeup off. She takes out her camera that she uses for the video diaries. She turns it to face her and Matt. 

“Hey everyone! This is my brother Matt Holt, you guys might’ve heard of him, he’s a stand up comedian. He just got back from his tour around America and decided to come visit us here on set!” Matt waved into the camera.   
“Hey guys! Like the little Pidgeon said, I’m in town for a bit so I’m gonna hang out with the coolest cast in LA! We’re going out tonight for drinks, mostly so we can make fun of Keith when he’s drunk...” Matt smiled and Keith yelled “Hey!” 

They all walked to the parking lot together, making sure that everyone knew where the club was. Lance and Keith started walking to Keith’s car. Matt had parked a few places away from them. 

“Wait.... did you guys drive here together?” Matt asks them as they open the doors. Keith rolls his eyes. Pidge and Hunk took notice of their conversation. They looked at each other then to Matt. They all smirked.   
“Yeah? Why is everyone so surprised by this?” Lance asks them. Hunk shrugs, and Pidge and Matt laugh at them.   
Lance looks at Keith confused, and Keith avoids his gaze and shakes his head. 

They all meet up outside Spiral, then walk in with no trouble. The bouncer just nods at them as they pass by. Keith suspects it was just because they were with Allura and Shiro. But maybe people did recognize them, their faces had been everywhere for the last couple weeks. 

They ordered drinks and sat down at a table while they drank them. 

“Whatcha got there Keith?” Lance asks him.   
Keith looks at his drink. “Just a Coke and rum.”   
Lance hums and says “I got a daiquiri, strawberry, obviously.”   
Shiro and Matt got a beer, Pidge, Adam, and Allura did a round of shots, and Hunk just got a coke. He said he wanted to make sure we could all get home safely. 

Eventually they wound up on the dance floor. Lance and Allura were dancing the most, though Matt came in a close second. 

Keith and Hunk were chatting at their table, Shiro was with Adam, they were half dancing half whispering to each other in the corner of the dance floor. Pidge was dancing with Matt, Allura, and Lance, but she was mostly just swaying while the others went at it hard. 

“Yeah I just feel like Theo would be open to anything y’know?” Hunk was telling Keith. They were discussing their characters and Keith asked Hunk if he thought Theo was straight or not. He voted for probably not. 

“What about Alexander?” Hunk asked him. Keith thought about it for a moment, pursing his lips.   
“I don’t know. It might be nice to play a not straight person for once.” Hunk laughed at that. Hunk was straight but he’s a huge ally, and totally supportive of all his friends.   
“Yeah I can totally see him and Robin together.” Hunk said before taking a sip of coke. Keith’s face fell.   
“What? Really?” Hunk was confused to why Keith was so startled by this.   
“Yeah, they just seem to care about each other a lot. I don’t know, maybe it’s just in a friendly way, but I could see it either way.” Hunk explained. Keith took a sip of his second coke and rum.   
“But they fight all the time?”   
“Yeah, I kinda thought it was because they don’t want to see each other get hurt. And maybe that’s the only way they know how to express their feelings to each other. They’re both kinda repressed individuals.” Keith looked at his drink. Then he finished it off. 

“Whoa there Keith, that was fast.” Hunk put his hands in a surrender motion. “I didn’t mean to upset you or anything, you know the character better than anyone obviously.” 

“No no, I’m not upset at you or anything. It’s just been a long day.” Keith told him, Hunk looked pretty skeptical.   
“It’s only Monday dude, I don’t want to tell you how to live your life, but maybe don’t go too hard. We’re working all week.” Keith nodded.   
“Yeah I know man. And I won’t, no blacking out or hangovers. Don’t worry.” Hunk patted his shoulder. 

Lance wandered over to the table. 

“Guys! Stop being boring and come dance with us!” He exclaimed and held out his hands. Hunk and Keith each took one hand and let Lance lead them to the dance floor. 

Hunk mostly started talking to Pidge, they’re both pretty awkward with this sort of thing. The others though...   
Keith felt quite stupid dancing next to Allura and Lance. He’s danced with Matt plenty of times, Matt wasn’t exactly good at dancing. He just had so much confidence that he looked like he knew what he was doing. 

Lance and Allura looked like they were trained or something. Allura actually might have been. The way they moved was something Keith was very envious of. 

Allura was more elegant and beautiful while dancing, she possessed such grace that everyone else in the room looked like stumbling idiots compared to her. 

Lance was just so natural, everything he did seemed like him. He’d roll his hips and shimmy his shoulders in a way that Keith could just tell was so Lance. He looked like he was completely at home, and he knew exactly what he was doing. 

Keith just did what felt right. The song was something Lance had played in the break room before. Lance was always starting dance parties in the break room. He and Allura and some of the other non main cast members were the only ones to join. 

Keith was never a dancer but in his tipsy state he didn’t feel like doing anything else. He noticed that Pidge and Hunk had gone to sit back down. They seemed much happier talking over there. 

Allura took Lance’s hands and they started spinning on their heels. Keith looked at them, their faces were lit with happiness. Matt looked at him and grabbed his hand. Keith looked at his confused. 

“Come on Keith, dance with me!” He joked while pulling Keith into his arms. They laughed as they sloppily danced together. Matt spun him around and dipped him. Keith leaned into Matt’s chest and threw his arms around his neck.   
They were just messing around- they both knew that. They did stuff like this all the time. They’d flirt just as a joke, they’d never actually like each other that way.   
They’d known each other for ten years, Shiro and Matt had dated for two of those years and Keith didn’t even know he was gay at the time. There was no reality where Keith and Matt would ever become anything more than friends.   
So they were both comfortable doing things that Keith was uncomfortable to do with most people. For instance, Matt was semi grinding on Keith right now. 

Keith had his back pressed close to Matt’s chest and they moved together like they’d done this a million times. They hadn’t really, only every now and then when they were both drunk at a club. They were laughing the entire time, they knew what they meant to each other and that wasn’t going to change. 

They stopped grinding and Keith turned to face Matt, they kept dancing for a while. 

Lance had just noticed the absolute sex show that was being preformed only five feet away from him. He dropped Allura’s hands out of surprise and stopped dancing. 

She looked at him confused but her face filled with understanding once she followed his gaze to the boys dancing together. 

Lance couldn’t even describe why he was confused. Matt and Keith were both grown adults. Maybe he felt unsettled because Matt was Shiro’s ex boyfriend. Keith’s brother’s ex. He was pretty sure Matt was also a couple years older than Keith. It seemed wrong somehow. 

Allura put her hand on his shoulder and asked him “Are you alright Lance?” He finally tore his eyes away from Keith wrapping his arms around Matt’s waist.   
“What? Yeah. It just seems... weird.” Allura nodded in understanding. They walked over to the bar. 

They did a quick round of shots, just the two of them. Then they wandered to Adam and Shiro talking civilly with Pidge and Hunk. 

“Shiro, hey.” Lance said when they joined them at the table.   
“Hey Lance,” Shiro noticed Lance’s decline in good mood. “You okay there?” He asked him. 

“Yeah, I’m all good.” He looked at Pidge. “How old is your brother?” He asked abruptly. Pidge looked taken back. She looked to Shiro then back to Lance.   
“Twenty seven. Why?” Lance stared at the wall behind Pidge. He could tell his eyebrows were crossed. He couldn’t describe why he felt this way. His stomach was churning but also felt like it was boiling. 

“Just wondering.” Lance said. He looked over the crowd of dancers and his eyes settled on Keith and Matt laughing. Keith was being dipped by Matt. Lance could imagine his eyes burning holes in their heads. It made him feel slightly better. 

He could hear the others whispering something. He heard the words ‘Keith’, ‘Lance’, ‘drunk’, and a couple conjunctions. He turned towards Shiro quickly. He looked around for Adam, he was either at the bar or in the bathroom, whenever he was he wasn’t here. 

“So you’re cool with this?” He asks Shiro. Shiro raises an eyebrow at him. Lance scoffs and points at the boys. Shiro doesn’t look surprised at all. 

“Yeah? They’re just having fun Lance, they’re not dating or anything. They don’t like each other that way.” Lance was almost fuming. Why was no one else disturbed by this? “They do this all the time Lance,” Shiro tells him.   
“What?”  
“At dances, they’ll dance together and just have fun. Why not?” Lance looks at Pidge for assistance.  
She shrugs and gives her ‘I don’t care’ face. 

Lance took in a deep breath. Whatever, he thought. He had a few more drinks, nothing too heavy. Then Matt and Keith came back to join them at the table. Both of them looked incredibly hyped up, like they had won the goddamn lottery. 

“There you guys are! We couldn’t find you anywhere!” Matt said to the group. Keith sat down next to Lance. Lance thought he should move away from him, but he didn’t. He did mumble something incoherent under his breath though.   
Something along the lines of “maybe we all got sick of the sex show.” No one heard him though. 

Matt went to use the bathroom a couple minutes later. Shiro stood up with Adam.   
“We should head back home, and before Hunk asks, yes we’re sober enough to drive.” Hunk smiled at him and gave them a thumbs up. 

“I suggest you all head home soon. Work tomorrow.” They all agreed and stood up. Pidge agree to meet Hunk outside when Matt came back. 

Lance and Keith started walking out together. Lance was kind of pissed off that he had to talk to him. Maybe he just wouldn’t talk to him. 

“Are you okay to drive Keith?” Hunk asked him. Keith nodded. “I’ve only had two drinks and they were light. I also drank them like an hour ago.” Hunk patted his shoulder.   
“Okay, don’t get in an accident. And make sure Lance gets to bed okay? He’s really hammered.” Hunk whispered that last part.   
“I can still hear you!” Lance told him. 

Lance opened the door to Keith’s car. He didn’t get in right away. Neither did Keith. Keith leaned against the top of the car and was about to say something when Shiro walked up to them. 

“You guys ride here together?” He asked them. Keith rolled his eyes. Lance was getting pretty sick of everyone asking them this. What was so wrong about preserving the environment?? 

“We drove to work together and came here directly afterwards, so yeah.” Lance explained to him, he was being sassy but he did not care. He could also tell that his accent was getting a little thicker, but everyone seemed to understand him fine. 

“I trust you guys, but don’t let this affect your work relationship.” Shiro told them, Keith hit his face with his palm. 

“What the fuck are you talking about man? What has anyone been talking about all day? Yeah we drive to work together everyone morning and he drops me out every night!” He sees Pidge and Matt exit the building and walk over to them. 

“Hunk and Pidge carpool! No one made a big deal out of that!? So why can’t everyone just get off my dick? Dios mio.” Lance hit the top of Keith’s car. He knew if his mother heard him talking that way he’d be in big trouble. He instantly regretted yelling at the group. God this was so embarrassing. 

Hunk walked over to him slowly, like walking on egg shells. 

“Hey, Lance. We didn’t mean any harm okay? Why don’t we talk about this in the morning?” Lance looked at him. He loved Hunk. He was besties with him. But he was so confused, and his mind was so twirly right now? 

“Hunk please, anyone! Please just tell me what I did wrong!” Everyone shifted uncomfortably. 

Keith was the first one to speak up, he leaned across the car even more. Lance looked at his eyes when he spoke, he loved how understanding they looked. 

“Lance, they assumed that we were sleeping together and that’s why we’d drive to work together. You didn’t do anything wrong okay?” Lance looked at the rest of the group. Adam and Matt were in the background, neither wanting to get involved. Pidge was holding her brother’s arm. She was startled by the yelling. Allura’s face was fully of sympathy and love. Shiro just looked disappointed. 

Lance let out a short exhale of breath that sounded like a laugh. He smiled a bit. 

“We’re just carpooling guys.” He sounded so tired and sad when he said it, his own voice surprised him. He got into the car and put his head in his hands. 

Keith joined him after a minute. He knows that he said something to the group. But he doesn’t know what and he’s too tired and frustrated to ask. 

He can’t remember much of the car ride, besides that Keith pulled his left hand off his face when they arrived at Lance’s building. 

“Hey Lance, we’re at your place.”   
“I didn’t mean to yell at everyone. I just- I was just so confused and it felt like everyone was making fun of me or like-“ he sighed. “I don’t know.” 

Keith got out of his door and circled around to Lance’s. He helped him out of the car and they walked to the elevator together. 

“It’s okay Lance. No one is mad at you. No one was making fun of you, they made presumptions and that’s on them.” Lance leaned against the elevator wall as Keith pressed the button up to his floor. 

Keith’s arm was still around him. 

“Are you and Matt...” Lance started but looked away before finishing. His face got all hot from how embarrassed he was.   
“Never mind, it’s none of my business. Sorry.” He mumbled out.   
“Matt and I are just friends. We’ve never done anything more than what you saw. We just feel comfortable around each other, that’s all.” 

Keith walked him to his apartment and unlocked the door for him. 

Lance walked into his place and stood, looking out the window. He heard Keith in the kitchen, and the faint sound of water. 

Then there was suddenly a glass of water in his hand. Lance drank it without being told to. 

Keith handed him another glass and he drank that one slower. Keith led him to his bed room, Lance sat on his bed. 

Keith kneeled down to look at him. 

“Hey, everything is okay. I’ll come over tomorrow morning with some coffee and breakfast.” Lance leaned down on his bed. Putting his head on his pillow. He watched Keith set an alarm on his alarm clock, and heard him rustle around in his bathroom. He didn’t think at all, he just had this overwhelming feeling of being sad. He felt so shitty and didn’t know why. He fell asleep before he could figure anything out. 

Lance’s alarm went off, the chiming was like a battering ram in Lance’s head. He slammed his hand on the damned thing and looked at the time.   
It was 7:30. He usually woke up at 6. Keith set his alarm though... right? He thought he remembered Keith setting his alarm and going to his bathroom. Lance sat up slowly and saw a glass of water and a bottle of Tylenol next to his alarm. 

He took two and stared at the ground. 

He made such a scene last night. 

How can he look at his friends the same today? 

Lance flopped back onto his bed at the thought of working today. His eyes fluttered shut and he fell asleep again.


	8. Compatibility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This follows directly after the last chapter!  
> Caring and protective Keith!  
> Loving cast!  
> Kosmo!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly this is a bit of a filler chapter but it has some important stuff. Also they talk about zodiac signs at the end of the chapter- I looked up everyone’s birthday I didn’t just make them up. Except for Allura, her birthday is unknown so I made her a Libra cause I thought it fit.  
> Enjoy the chapter!

Keith slowly knocked on Lance’s door. He set Lance’s alarm for seven thirty, about an hour after he and Lance usually leave for work. He didn’t mind being late to work today, Lance needed that sleep. They wouldn’t even be late, call was at eight, Lance and Keith usually got there around seven and took their time getting ready and then just chatted. Today they would have to get ready faster. Lance opened his door, he looked horrible. “Hey Keith,” he opened the door more to let Keith in. Lance was still in his clothes from yesterday, and his hair was messed up. His eyes even looked a little duller than normal. “Hey Lance, got you breakfast and coffee. We can go as soon as you’re dressed.” Keith put the paper bag on the countertop. He had gotten Lance a cinnamon bagel with cream cheese and a regular coffee with tons of sugar and milk. He waited for a couple minutes as Lance came back out of his room, wearing a t shirt and sweatpants. He slipped some sandals on and they walked to Keith’s car in silence. Lance had finished his breakfast by the time they’d gotten to the studio. When he got there he went straight for the coffee machine in the break room. He finished his coffee before they reached Keith’s car. Keith walked into make up and hair room and sat down in his seat. He did his regular make up as fast as possible, then had to have his special effects make up artist add some bruises and cuts. They were filming a scene that was after a fight scene so he was all roughed up. Hunk immediately crowded Keith, asking a bunch of questions. “Is he okay? Does he hate us? Did he get to sleep alright? Oh my god he totally hates us now doesn’t he?” “Hunk!” Keith said, Hunk stopped spiraling. “He’s fine, he’s a bit hungover but he’s fine. I made sure he got home safe, and I let him sleep in. He’s eaten breakfast, he’s drinking some coffee- he’s fine.” Hunk fidgeted with his fingers, Pidge put her hand on his shoulder. “He just had a long night, right Keith?” Pidge assured Hunk. She was being way more understanding than Keith thought. He saw the way she jumped when Lance yelled at them all. “Yeah, if he feels like explaining it, he will.” Keith told them. Lance walked into the room slowly. He ignored everyone and just went to putting on his plain makeup and drinking his giant mug of coffee. Once Keith’s special effect’s artist, Zethrid, was done he went to change into costume. He met up with the rest of the cast on set. They were on a different stage today, shooting a scene in an old house. They all had roughed up make up, Keith’s face was covered in fake sticky blood. Lance walked over to them a couple minutes later. He stood really close to Keith, and mostly ignored the rest of them. They filmed the scene, it took a while though. About ten takes. Lance forgot a couple lines, and a couple of them also messed some stuff up. At one point we take a five minute break. Lance walks over to Keith, and almost hides behind Keith’s arm. “Lance,” Keith probes him to look at him. “Keith, I feel so stupid.” Lance briefly looked at Keith’s face. They both had fake bruises and blood streaking their faces. “You aren’t stupid, and no one is mad at you. They’re just worried.” “I want to talk to them, I’m just so embarrassed.” Keith takes Lance’s arms and moves him around to the front of himself so he isn’t hiding anymore. “I’ll come with you,” Lance stared at Keith for a moment. His face was full of regret and fear. They walked over to the rest of the cast. Keith gives them all a look that reads something like ‘be nice or I’ll beat you up!’ They all seemed to understand. “Hey guys!” Hunk says to them, acting way more casual than he was earlier when he was freaking out. Lance waved at everyone. “Hey everyone, uhm. I want to apologize for yelling at everyone yesterday, I wasn’t feeling well and-“ he let out a sigh and looked at the ground. “It doesn’t matter why I did it. I’m sorry and I will do my best to not let it happen again.” He slowly looked up to the group, no one looked angry or upset. “Lance, no one is upset with you. We were just concerned about you. We all really care about you!” Allura says, she walks forward and holds Lance’s hand. He smiles at her. It’s a tired smile, Keith knows that’s all he can muster right now. Allura hugs him. More people joined the hug, Hunk then Shiro then Pidge and Keith. Adam called for a reset and they did the next scene in two takes. They still had another scene to shoot, but they had to get the blood off for it. The makeup artists just made them look like the day after they were beat up. So bruises and cuts, but no blood streaming on their faces. “Hey Keith, have you talked to Matt?” Pidge asks Keith when their having their makeup done. Keith tries not to move for his makeup artist, but his eyebrows do furrow a bit. “Not since yesterday, why?” “Just wondering, he’s staying with me for a while.” “Yeah I figured.” He was doing his best not to be awkward around her. But he had just spent a lot of quality time with her brother, and she saw it too. Keith was almost embarrassed. Almost. “You know, he’s told me about you before.” Pidge continues on, any awkwardness he wasn’t aware of. “Yeah?” “Well after he and Shiro broke up he didn’t tell me who his ex was, just that his ex was some huge movie star- I totally thought he was lying.” Keith laughs at that. “But he told me he just got out of a serious relationship and was pretty upset about it. He said that he at least got to keep being friends with his ex’s brother. Guess that’s you.” Keith smiled a little. It’s nice to know that his friend had valued him enough even way back then. “Heh, yeah that’s me.” “Guess now I know why he made me watch all seven seasons of that show you were in.” Keith’s eyes moved towards her. He was trying really hard not to move his head. “He did?” He was pretty surprised by this. Matt cared enough to watch all of his show? Well, it’s a good show, maybe that was why. “Yep! He made me watch a couple of Shiro’s movies too.” That made sense to Keith, Matt really loved Shiro. They loved each other, they were best friends for a while and fell in love. In the end they both decided they were better as just friends though. Matt even met Adam after a couple years. Him and Adam got along pretty well. They ran their other scene. Keith was really tired. They’d stayed up pretty late and he didn’t sleep well. They’d also done three scenes today, all of them long and done in many takes. He’s staring at his fake beat up face in the mirror. He remembers being beat up for real. Not something Keith likes to remember. “Keith? You gonna take your make up off?” Pidge asks him. He snaps from his memories and looks at her. He must have been sitting there for a while. He nodded slowly and started taking the makeup off. He could feel Shiro looking at him from across the room. Shiro was the only one who knew. Why would anyone else know? It wasn’t that big of a deal. Really it wasn’t. “Keith, I’m gonna use the bathroom, I’ll be right back.” Lance tells him and walks out. Lance has been pretty dull today. His head must be killing him. Everyone has been making him feel better. Hunk even offered to take him out for ice cream but Lance refused. He said he wanted to sleep for ten days. Keith didn’t have the heart to remind him that they worked the rest of the week. They got into Keith’s car. Lance was going to drive today, but obviously that has been out off until next week. He didn’t play any music, didn’t want to aggravate Lance’s head. He wasn’t sure if it was any better than this morning. It’s been several hours, his head ache should be gone, but still. Keith wasn’t sure if Lance was in the mood for Keith’s emo playlist. “Wait, Keith.” Lance said when they got to their neighborhood. “Yeah?” “Can we go to your place? I didn’t get to see Kosmo today. I miss her.” Lance sounded so... just tired and... Keith couldn’t find the right words to describe him. He’d say sad, but he doesn’t think that’s right. “Yeah of course. I’m sure she’d be happy to see you. She loves you.” Lance turned to him and smiled. Keith was pretty sure it was the only time he’d smile with out a sign of sadness. “Really? She loves me?” He sounds so hopeful. “Yeah of course she does. You play with her every morning and you’ve occasionally gone on walks with her. She loves that.” Lance looks to his lap and smiles. When they get to Keith’s place Lance immediately hugs Kosmo. He lies on the couch and Kosmo sits on top of him. Keith just smiles at them. He was so glad he had Kosmo in his life. She’s such a sweetheart. Lance fell asleep on his couch very quickly. Kosmo stayed with him like the amazing dog she is. Keith went to his room so he wouldn’t bother him. He decided to call Matt. They hadn’t talked in person for a while until last night. So he FaceTimed him on his phone. “Hey Keith, what’s up?” Matt said casually. He looked like he just got out of the shower. His hair was all wet and we wasn’t wearing a shirt. He was lying on Pidge’s couch. He’s been to Pidge’s place at least once so he vaguely recognized where he was. “You just walking around without a shirt on?” “I was about to put one on when you called. So this is really on you man.” Keith laughed at him. “Pidge asked me on set if I had talked to you yet today.” Matt looked confused. He set his phone down and pulled a graphic tee on. “We talked last night?” “That’s what I said.” “Hmm I don’t know man. Wait. Pidge!” Matt yelled for his sister. Keith saw Pidge walk into the living room, she had on sweats and a t shirt. “What.” She said simply. “I’m on FaceTime with Keith, why’d you ask him if we’d talked today?” Pidge walked over to the phone. Keith and her waved at each other. “Uh mostly I was just tryna see what Lance’s reaction was. Don’t tell him.” She said, she sounded kind of guilty about it. “Why would you want to see his reaction?” Keith asked. Matt started laughing, when Keith glared at him he turned it into a fake cough. “Dude, he was like.... crazy jealous of you two last night.” Pidge explained. “What?” Keith was completely unaware of that. Only thing Lance had mentioned about Matt was asking if they were sleeping together.... “Yeah man, and he seemed really offended when we thought you guys were sleeping together.” Matt agreed with his sister. “Because it’s rude to believe people are sleeping together just because we’re friends! He was just really tired, he had a long day.” Keith was defending Lance, mostly because he was on Lance’s side. It was weird that everyone assumed things about them. “Whatever Man, you guys have a weird friendship.” Pidge told him. She had since then sat down next to Matt on the couch. “How is it weird?!” Keith almost shouted. As he said that Kosmo ran into his room and jumped on his bed. Lance knocked on his door. “Keith, sorry I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” Lance told him. He noticed that Keith was on the phone with someone. “Sorry, am I interrupting something?” He asked. “It’s just Pidge and Matt.” Keith explained to him. Kosmo curled up next to him in his bed. “Wait is that Lance?!” Pidge asked. Keith rolled his eyes. Matt and Pidge started laughing. “I’m gonna go....” Lance said kind of awkwardly. He looked better than before. He needed that nap. “You don’t have to.” Keith muted himself and set his phone down. “I could order some food. Greasy food is supposed to be good for hangovers.” He stood up from his bed. Matt and Pidge continued talking to each other while they waited. Lance looked at his phone, then to Kosmo. “Okay, yeah. That’d be nice.” Keith nods and tells Matt and Pidge he has to go. “Okay, see you later man!” They both said. Matt made some crude gestures at him and Keith rolled his eyes and hung up. Lance and him grabbed MacDonalds. It wasn’t great food but neither of them cared that much. It was eight on a Tuesday, they didn’t really care much about anything right now. “Tell me about your friends.” Lance told him. They were eating their dinners on Keith’s couch while watching Lance’s old musical show. Lance was embarrassed about it, but Keith knew it would make him feel better. Keith actually liked it more than he thought he would.... “My friends?” “Yeah, like besides us from the show.” Lance clarified. “Um okay. I don’t have many close friends though, so this’ll go by kind of fast.” Lance shrugged. “Okay, obviously Shiro. He’s like my brother. Adam and I are friends, we usually only see each other if Shiro’s there but we’re still friends. Matt, I’ve been friends with him for ten years. He’s probably my closest friend now that I’m not friends with James anymore. James, I guess. He’s an old costar of mine. He was in like two seasons of my old show. We were friends for a long time and moved in together. Um, I’d say Axca and I are friends, our choreographer.” Keith listed out people. “I know who your friends are, I meant like... tell me about them. How you met them, why you’re friends, what’s your zodiac compatibility...” Keith chuckled at him. “What’s with the sudden interest?” Lance shrugged. “I spend like everyday with you. I want to actually know you.” Keith almost smiled. “Okay, Shiro’s family basically raised me when I was about ten. They took me in and really helped me out. He’s my best friend for sure, and I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am if not for him.” Lance lied down on the couch and leaned against a pillow, so he could see Keith better. “I met Adam and Matt through Shiro. Matt and I have really similar humor, and we’ve known each other for so long that we’re just completely comfortable with each other now. Adam is like... another dad. I love him, but he is such a dad friend.” Keith chuckled remembering when Adam had lectured him on drinking when he blacked out a couple years ago. “Axca is just super cool. We met on set and just get along really well.” He already kind of explained James, and didn’t really want to talk about him anymore. “You forgot the zodiac!” Lance pushed his arm with his foot. He was wearing socks luckily. Keith rolled his eyes. “I don’t know their signs! I know I’m a, oh what’s it called. A Scorpio.” Lance scrunched up his nose. Keith laughed and pushed his foot. “Oh shut up!” “I haven’t said anything, but Scorpios.... yikes.” Lance smiled. “Ok, what sign are you then?” “A leo, the best sign!” “Pfft okay.” “I think Shiro is a Pisces, whatever that means.” Lance scoffs at him. “You’re both water signs? That’s a lot for one household.” “Whatever. What about your friends?” Lance’s smile faded a little. “I uh, also don’t have many friends. Actually.” Keith was super surprised by this. Lance made friends with everyone he met. “Well, okay. I’m friends with everyone I meet, but I don’t talk to many people outside of the place where I met them. Like I don’t talk to any of the crew off set.” Keith nodded. That was how it was for most actors. “Obviously you guys on set. I have four siblings, they’re all my friends. I’m still friends with Nadia, she was on this show with me.” He pointed at the screen. When a beautiful young woman with dark brown hair and light brown skin came on screen Lance pointed at her. “That’s Nadia. She’s great.” Nadia started singing, she’s fantastic. “I’d say I’m friends with my agent Slav. And my ex Nyma and I aren’t super close but I we talk now and then. Oh! And Nyma’s new boyfriend Rolo and I. We’re buddies. Kind of.” They talked about Lance’s friends for a while. Lance lit up when Keith decided to look up everyone on cast’s comparability. “What was it like, in Cuba?” Keith asked him when his computer was loading. “Beautiful. It’s warm and rainy and gorgeous. It’s a lot greener than California.” Keith looks at him. He had this far away look on his face. “What about where you grew up? Where did you grow up?” Keith moved his state before Lance saw him. “Uh I was born in Texas but moved to California when I was pretty young.” Lance broke into a huge smile. “You’re from Texas?!” He asks. “Yeah?” “Oh my god, did you ever wear like, a little cowboy costume?!?” Keith now regretted telling Lance anything. “I only lived there for like two years!” “That’s the perfect time to wear a little cowboy costume!” “I don’t think I ever wore one.” “You’re Breaking my heart Keith,” Lance put his hand on his chest. “My family loved dressing me up when I was younger. I think the best costume I ever wore was a little Frankenstein monster.” Lance was staring at the ceiling. Keith leaned back. “Your family seems really cool from what you’ve told me.” Lance smiles just thinking about them. “They’re the coolest. Y’know I was scared I’d get kicked out since they’re Christian but they never stopped loving me.” Keith looked at his hands. Lance took a moment before he remembered that Keith was raised by Shiro’s family. The thought that Keith might’ve been kicked out never occurred to him. He quickly tried to back peddle. “Well I just meant that I’m lucky in that way, there’s nothing wrong with being kicked out, that’s not the kids fault it’s the parents. And honestly I don’t-“ Keith put his hand over Lance’s mouth. “I wasn’t kicked out. Calm down.” Keith removed his hand. Lance let out a breath. “Sorry, I Just freaked out that I might’ve offended you.” Keith shook his head. “Nope, I moved in with Shiro because my dad died when I was nine and my mom left me a year later.” Keith picked up his computer and put it in his lap. This way he had a bit of a wall between him and the world. He was fine telling people that it happened. He’s told plenty of people. But he knew Lance would be all nice and understanding and Keith didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “I’m sorry that happened.” Was all Lance said. Keith shrugged, trying to remain casual. “My mom and I still talk sometimes. Not often though.” “I understand,” Lance said. Keith looked at him confused. “I mean, not about your mom. I see my mom all the time. I meant about your dad.” Lance had sat up for this. Keith realized what he was talking about. His eyebrows furrowed in empathy. “My dad passed a few years ago.” Lance told him. Keith’s heart broke when he looked at Lance. He wasn’t crying, but he looked so distraught. And that was so recent, Keith assumed he meant that his dad also died when he was a kid. “I’m sorry for you loss.” Keith said to him. Lance looked at him and smiled sadly. “Yeah, me too.” They sat and watched the show in silence for a few minutes. Not awkward silence though, but like there was a sort of understanding between them. “Okay, let’s see everyone’s sun sign.” Lance said after a few minutes. He scooted so he was seated right next to Keith, both looking at his computer. “Okay, Shiro is a pieces, you’re a Scorpio, I’m a Leo, Hunk is a Capricorn, Pidge is an Aries, and Allura is a Libra.” Lance listed off. “I don’t know what most of that meant.” “Have you found a comparability chart yet?” Lance asks him. “I’ve found several, they’re all slightly different.” “Wait! I had a great idea!” “What?” Keith asked him. “I’m gonna livestream this!” “Hah, okay. If you want to.” Keith shrugged. He didn’t really care that much. He looked fine and the background wasn’t messy so why not. “Hey everyone! Wow, there’s already so many people here! That’s amazing. Hah. Anyway, I’m at Keith Kogane’s house and we’re looking up the zodiac compatibility for everyone on the cast!” Lance turned his phone so the camera was including him and Keith in the picture. There were tons of hearts and comments already. Keith couldn’t even read all the comments. “Wait Lance, do you not know how to pronounce my name?” Keith asks him. “What? Is it not Kogane?” “You’re pronouncing it like (Co-gain) it’s (Ko-guh-neh).” Keith explained to him. Lance’s jaw dropped. “I’ve been pronouncing your name wrong for like three months! Keith! Why didn’t you tell me!” “I’ve never heard you say it out loud!” “That’s so embarrassing.” “I don’t know how you didn’t know it? We’ve done tons of interviews where I introduce myself!” “I don’t know! I’m always so nervous at interviews I guess I just didn’t notice.” “You’re an idiot Lance.” Keith rolled his eyes. The comments were blowing up. Most of them about how Lance didn’t know Keith’s last name. “Keith they’re bullying me now,” Lance complained to Keith in reference to the comments. “Good.” Lance Hit Keith’s arm. “Okay I found one.” Lance moves the phone to lean against one of their pops. The screen could see Lance and Keith sitting close together on a couch, Keith had a laptop in his lap. “Okay so we’ll do Pidge first. She’s an Aries so...” Keith moved his finger across the chart on the screen. “So she has a little heart by Leo, that’s you Lance. A heart with Libra for Allura, ooh. Pidge and I have an X. Aries and scorpios Not good together I guess.” “You’re both too competitive signs.” Lance explains. “And with Hunk she has an X as well. Well her and Hunk get along great so I don’t know about this.” Keith told the camera. “Give me that,” Lance took Keith’s computer and moved it to his lap. “I’m gonna find a better chart. One second. Keith respond to some comments or something.” Keith leaned in to look at some comments.

**Omg Lance is so cute**

**Anyone else wondering why Lance is at Keith’s house at 9 on a Tuesday???  
**

**Good question ^^^  
**

**Keith!!! Notice me!!  
** **  
You guys are so weird, in the best way** **  
**

**I’m so excited for their show**

”Okay well...” Keith starts talking. “There’s a lot of comments wow. Um someone said that they are excited for the show. We are too! We’re almost done filming, then it’ll be out a month or two later.” 

“Some one else said that Lance is cute,” he leaned back and looked at Lance. “They think you’re cute.” Lance smiled and said “You guys are too kind.” 

“Okay I found a chart I like better.” Lance said. “There’s so many colors on this thing Lance.” Keith said after looking at it. “Yeah! Each color says something different!”   
  


“Okay, read away.” Keith told him.   
  


“So Pidge and I are at a 97%, and apparently we have great chemistry and are harmonious together.” Keith scoffed. “You guys are menace together is what you are.” Lance hit his arm and continued.   
“Allura and Pidge have a 85% and are naturally good partners. That’s cute. Her and Keith have a 50%, and have a mutual understanding.” Keith nodded.   
“I can see that.” He said.   
“Pidge and Hunk have a 47% and are highly volatile but have good work combination.”  
“How does that even work? They’re bad together but also not?” Lance shrugs and says “They have a good working relationship but aren’t good together. That’s not true at all, they’re great friends. And lastly Shiro and Pidge have a 67%.” 

“You’re next right?” Keith asks. Lance nods. 

“Okay Allura and I have a 97% and we’re harmonious together!” Lance smiles.  
“That seems right,” Keith said. 

“Ooh yikes. Keith, you and I have a 58%, but it says we have a mutual understanding of each other.” “I suppose so...” Keith says.  
“Looks like we’ll never be together, oh what a tragedy!” Lance puts a limp hand to his forehead, he’s playing distressed. Keith rolls his eyes at his dramatic friend. Keith was about to say something but remembered that they were live. 

“Hunk and I are...” Lance gasped dramatically. “35%!! Highly volatile and have nothing in common. Okay this thing is broken.

“Shiro and I... 38%, yikes. Low commitment and nothing in common.” 

“See? My chart was better than this.” Keith said and Lance brushed him off. 

“Allura next! Allura and Keith have 35% and have nothing in common and are highly volatile. Allura and Hunk have a 55% and great sexual chemistry but are highly volatile.” Both of them start laughing. Neither of them being true. 

“Hah, okay, moving on. Allura and Shiro got an 88%, they work well together and have a mutual understanding of each other.”

”Keith it’s your turn! You and Hunk have a 95%! You’re harmonious and work well together. You and Shiro got 97%, you are harmonious and have high sexual chemistry.... ew.”   
Keith looks at the camera and says “For those of you who don’t know, Shiro and I are like brothers... so yeah. Ew.”   
  


“And last but not least! Hunk and Shiro have a 88%, they’re harmonious, they work well together, and have sexual chemistry.” Keith and Lance looked at each other.   
  


“Okay next time we’ll find something more accurate.” Lance says before closing Keith’s computer.   
“Let’s look at some comments!” Lance picks up his phone and brings it close to Keith and Lance’s faces.   
  


**Next time?!?!??**

**Excuse me please explain next time???  
  
** **Anyone else sensing some chemistry?** ****

**Keith’s house is so calm and peaceful**

**Where’s Kosmo!!**

**I agree^^ I wanna see her!!**

**That chart was way off**

**Was there anyone else who didn’t know that Shiro and Keith were like brothers?!**

**Still hung up that Lance didn’t know how to pronounce Keith’s last name**

**^I’m still hung up that Lance is at Keith’s house at like 930 but none of the other cast members are...**

**Are the cast members friends?**

**Lance!! I’m your biggest fan!! I love you!!  
** **  
Are we all ignoring how close they’re sitting?** **  
**

******Calm down, they’re just friends smh**

Lance looked through a bunch of comments. There were so many 

“Kosmo is sleeping right now, I don’t wanna wake her sorry.” Keith said, responding to a comment 

“Someone asked if the cast members are friends, yes we are!” Lance responded. “We all hang out from time to time, we’re all good friends.” Keith continued.   
  
“Also thank you! To Lafayette!_gunsandships!! She said she was my biggest fan, that’s so sweet. I’m your biggest fan! Love all you guys.” Lance responded to a comment 

They talked to the fans a little longer, they noticed that Pidge joined the live stream 

“Pidge? That you?” Lance asked 

**Yep**

“You joined late! We looked up everyone’s zodiac comparability!” Lance whined to her.

”Eh, don’t worry about it. It wasn’t very accurate anyway.” Keith told her.   
  


Lance ended the live stream about fifteen minutes later. They cleaned up all the mess from their fast food dinner.

”Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow Keith!” Lance said to him. He gave Kosmo a much sweeter and longer goodbye.   
  


“Yeah, see ya. Make sure to set your alarm for six thirty again! Today was a one time only thing.” Keith told him as he walked him to the door.   
  


Lance turned to him before he left. He looked at the ground.   
“Thanks, by the way.” Keith tilted his head.

”For what?” Lance scoffed.   
“For everything! You took care of me, and looked out for me. And cheered me up. I was having the worst night and then the worst day and you helped me change that.” Lance explained to him. Keith raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t realized that he had affected Lance that much.

”Oh uh. Yeah of course man. It was no problem.” Keith told him. Lance quickly hugged him. Just a quick wrap around the back hug, Lance gave him a squeeze then let go.   
  


“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Lance said before exiting. Keith smiled and watched Lance walk away.   
  


He felt good knowing he was able to help his friend. But honestly he wasn’t even thinking about what he did. He just did what he wanted to do. He knew Lance would be tired and hungover so he bought him breakfast and let him sleep in. He knew he was nervous about talking to his friends so Keith went with him. Then he knew he was sad so he indulged Lance by buying him dinner and doing a live stream with him.   
  


Keith had fun. He liked hanging out with Lance. And he thinks he’s learned more about him recently. He was glad to know that their fans liked them so much. It warmed his heart that people cared so much.   
Sometimes Keith felt like people didn’t care about him. He didn’t feel that way today. 


	9. Last Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three weeks later!   
> Last day on set!  
> Wrap party!   
> Another live stream!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay sorry I haven’t posted in forever I haven’t had any motivation but I actually like this chapter so yay! Thank you again for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

“I’m literally gonna cry,” Lance told Keith when they got out of Keith’s car in the studio parking lot.

“Don’t cry, please.” Keith told him, sounding almost annoyed. It was the last day of filming and Lance was feeling all sorts of things.  
“Keeeeiiith, don’t be like that!” He whined against Keith’s shoulder. They walked together inside the building, Lance made sure to pay close attention to every detail of the place as he entered. He loves working on this show and the thought that he wouldn’t be for a couple months made his chest ache.

“Allura! You’re as sad as I am right?! Keith’s an emotionless robot!” Lance ran up to Allura, she had just sat down to do her makeup. She turned in her chair to see the boys. She smiled sympathetically and stood to hug Lance.

“Of course Lance! I’m going to miss you all so much!” She says while they rock back and forth in their hug.

“I’m not emotionless...” Keith grumbles from beside them. Allura let’s go of Lance and hugs Keith.  
“Oh Keith, I’m going to miss you!” Keith lets out a small affectionate laugh and hugs her back.

They all start on their make up, but Lance is talking the entire time. To his crew, to Keith’s crew, to other cast members, but most of all to Keith.

“Mariam, Freida, Collins, you guys are amazing! I’ll miss you all and your amazing skills and talents!” He tells them as they finish up on his hair and makeup.  
Keith stands up from his chair at the same time, he politely thanks his crew with a kind smile and Lance grabs his arm.

“Time to go change into our costumes for the last time!” He says while dragging Keith to the costume rack.  
“We have at least two more seasons genius,” Keith grumbles while pulling his arm out of Lance’s grip.  
“Yeah but who knows when that will start up again!” They get changed and by the time they’re out the rest of the main cast is there.

“Hunk! Pidge!” Lance says as he exits the dressing room. Keith walks over to Shiro and they start talking about something Lance can’t hear.

“Guys guys guys,,, it’s our last day!” He hugs both of them, quite awkwardly since their height difference is significant, to say the least.

“Yeah but we’ll be back soon,” Pidge assures him as she starts gathering her costume.  
“I’m right there with you Lance, I’m gonna miss you guys so much!” Hunk and Lance hug again.

”You’re the only one who understands me Hunk.” He says into Hunk’s shoulder. They had three scenes to film today, then they’d have a wrap party later that night. Of course the editing process would take a while so the show won’t air for a while.   
  


“Stop being drama queens, we have to get on set.” Pidge said to the two men still hugging. They separated and all walked to set together.   
  


The first scene they were shooting that day was set in a broken down gas station. The scene was all of the main cast meeting up again after their last fight where several of them were separated and hurt. Lance’s character Robin had broken his leg and needed Alexander to help him walk.   
  


When the scene started, Alexander was helping Robin into the gas station and they were the first to arrive. They both had several bruises and were covered in blood and dirt. They were involved in a horrid fight with an army of various monsters.   
  


Alexander sat Robin down on the floor against the old counter.   
“We were all supposed to meet here as soon as possible, how are we the first ones back?” Alexander asked Robin as he searched for any medical supplies.   
  


“I hope they’re okay,” Robin croaked out. Lance tried his best to make his voice sound horse and depleted.   
  


“They will be.... they have to be,” Alexander whispered to himself. He found a roll of toilet paper and some very old alcohol. He started cleaning Robin’s wounds.   
  


“Robin? Alexander? Thank the lord you’re okay.” Amber said as she walked into the store. She hugged Alexander immediately and sat down next to Robin on the ground.   
“What happened with you guys?” She asked.   
“Huge group of monsters, there were vamps and ghouls, it’s like they were being controlled or something. We barely got away.” Alexander explained while wrapping one of the worse cuts that Robin had.   
“What about you?” Robin asked Amber. She looked away, she had a pretty bad cut streaking across her cheek and her clothes were battered. She looked like she had been thrown down a cliff.   
  


“I was with Gemma, we were almost out when we got cornered by a were wolf. We fought it off for so long, but it got the better of me and threw me against a wall. I don’t know how long I was out, but Gemma was gone when I woke up.” She looked out the window, deeply troubled. Lance couldn’t help but appreciate how good of an actor Allura was. He knew that already, but every scene he had with her he appreciated it more.   
  


“I searched the place before I left and couldn’t find her. The wolf was gone too.” She sniffled, and rubbed her hand across her face, which only spread the blood around. She looked at her blood covered hands like she forgot about her cuts.   
  


“I’m sure she’s fine. Gemma can handle herself.” Alexander told her before cleaning her cuts. He didn’t sound too certain though. Both Robin and Amber could tell that he was saying that for Amber’s benefit.   
  


“Hello? Guys!” Theo yelled into the store. He rushed over to them when he spotted them. His whole face looked bruised and cut up but no dripping blood. He had a wrap around his arm, like he had stopped somewhere before here to patch himself up.   
  


“Guys, I was in the control panel and I saw everything! There are cameras everywhere in that place.” He told them and sat down on the other side of Robin.   
  


“So you saw Gemma and I with the wolf?” Amber asked him, he nodded. “Did you see where it took her?” She asked again.   
“Yeah, it was taking it to some trap door that leads to a basement. I was on my way to get her when I ran into Grey. He told me he just barley avoided getting squashed by some giant creature he didn’t recognize. I told him about Gemma and you, he said he’d get Gemma and that I should find you and get here as soon as possible. It took me a while to find where you were without the map, but when I did you weren’t there. I figured you came here so I followed, after bandaging myself up.”   
  


Theo took out some more first aid supplies from his cargo pants. It was just gauze and stuff for stitches, but it would come in handy for Amber’s cut on the face.”   
The characters talked for a bit longer while Theo and Alexander made sure everyone’s injuries were taken care of. Theo helped Alexander once they were done, though Alexander tried to turn him down several times.   
  


They watched the sun set as they waited for their friends, the scene ended with them watching the lowering light.   
  


They only ran the scene twice, both times were good, they just wanted different angles. The next scene they shot was directly afterwards, but the tech people had a couple things to set up so they just waited on set in their spots until they start up again.   
  


“You guys are going to the wrap party right?” Lance asked them while they were waiting.   
“Yeah of course! I’m super excited!” Hunk responded.   
“Yeah I’m going, as long as I don’t have to be designated chaperone.” Keith said, he had stood up to stretch a bit. Lance noticed how his shirt would ride up just a bit when he stretched and he could see his stomach.   
  


“Nah, I’ll do that this time. I’m not gonna drink for a while I think.” Lance said while anxiously rubbing his arm. He was still embarrassed from last time. No one had ever brought it up but he still felt bad.   
“What about you Allura?” Hunk asked her. She smiled and looked away, but Lance could still see the blush on her face.  
  


”Oooh, what’s with the blush?” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and chuckled.   
“Well, I may have invited someone to come along.” She admitted to the boys.

”Oh my god Allura! Tell us everything!” Lance screeched and grabbed her shoulder. “It’s Lotor isn’t it?” Keith asked, smirking from in front of them. She shyly nodded.   
  


“We’ve gone on a couple of dates and when Shiro said I could bring a date to the party I asked and he said yes!” She was now full on smiling. Her smile could literally light up an entire room.   
  


“That’s great Allura! He seems cool!” Hunk said and high fived her. Keith nodded and smiled at her. Her and Lance talked on about it for a couple more minutes before the next scene started.   
  


Pidge and Shiro were waiting on the other side of the store door, just waiting for their cue to enter.   
  


That scene didn’t take long, three takes isn’t bad. The scene consisted of Grey and Gemma getting back in worse shape than the rest of them, they told the group what happened and then they plotted out a plan.   
  


The last scene they filmed was the last scene of the season, they filmed the big fight scene and any scene with extras or guest stars before hand.   
  


The last scene was after the spelled they cast to stop the mind control on the monsters had just finished and they had already defeated the wizard and all the monsters. All they had to do in this scene was settle down together in the bunker and talk about what they’re gonna do next.   
  


Lance loved this scene, it seemed so cozy. He was seated right next to Keith, Robin and Alexander had become friends pretty quickly through out the season. They went over some future plans, and it left off with a bit of a cliffhanger.   
  


“Cut!” Adam said after their fifth take of the scene. “Okay I think we got it! That’s a wrap on season one of Hollowed Out! I’ll see you all at the wrap party!” Everyone cheered and Lance hugged Hunk again.   
  


He took his time getting out of costume and makeup. He made sure to thank every crew member he could find, and of course his lovely costars.   
  
Pidge made all of them do a quick goodbye to the video diary, it was sweet and made Lance even more sad about leaving everyone. 

Keith and him drove back to their neighborhood. Lance was driving and he was making Keith listen to his hype up playlist. Keith didn’t complain about it today though, like he usually does, he just looks out the window with a content look on his face.   
  


“So I’ll meet you back at your place in like thirty? I just gotta change real quick.” Lance told Keith once they pulled into the parking garage of his apartment complex. Keith gave him a thumbs up and drove off.   
  


Lance changed into more party like clothes, ripped jeans with a light blue and yellow crop top with an open button up thrown over it. It wasn’t going to be covered by the press, so he wasn’t going to wear anything fancy. It was pretty much just friends there. He was determined to have a good time tonight, sans alcohol.   
  


He knocked on Keith’s door, Keith stepped out soon after. He was wearing black skinny jeans and a band t shirt. The same thing he was wearing that morning, except he was wearing a long sleeve white shirt underneath his t shirt, so all you could see was the sleeves.   
  


The party was at a hotel not far from the studio, and it was in a special lobby reserved for Hollywood parties. Keith and him got out their IDs to show the body guard that was waiting outside the party doors. He said they didn’t need them cause he recognized them. They both smiled politely and walked into the party.   
  


It was already full of people. They were a little late, granted, but there were still a lot of people there for how early it was. The lighting was slowly changing from purple to red to blue then back again. They were playing music but it wasn’t easy to hear over all the chatter. There was a bar in the further right corner, and a mini stage along the left wall. Lance recognized pretty much everyone there. The writers, camera runners, the makeup teams, costume designers,PAs, guest stars, reoccurring characters, lighting crew, sound crew. Everyone was there.

Lance went to start talking with whoever, and Keith left him to talk to Axca and other fight choreographers.   
  


Lance was currently talking to Shay, who played a reoccurring character Azaria. Both her and the character were super cool. Shay was an absolute sweetheart and Lance was almost certain that she liked Hunk. He couldn’t tell how he was feeling about it though, so when he saw Hunk he called him over.   
  


“Hunk! Over here buddy!” He called, Shay turned and smiled when she saw him walking over.   
“Hey Lance, Shay! How’s it going?” He asked when he got there. He was wearing a regular shirt with a vest and cargo pants. He told Lance that wearing them so often on the show had made him like them.   
  


“We were just talking about how we think the fans will react to the show.” Lance explained to his buddy.   
“Oh yeah? I think a lot of people will like it, or at least, I hope so.” He said nervously. Shay smiled at him and looked away when he looked at her.   
“Yeah I was just saying that a lot of people will easily identify with the characters.” She told Hunk, he smiled and they started talking more. Lance slowly started walking away and smiled when they didn’t even notice him leaving.   
  


“Shiro! Adam! Hey guys!” Lance said when he saw them at the bar. He walked over to them, figuring they would be talking to people all night and he wanted to get a few words in before everyone swarmed.   
  


“Hey Lance! Great job man, you’re the perfect Robin.” Adam said, clapping Lance on the back. Lance split into a grin, every time he talked to Adam he got excited, but even more so when he complimented him. He’s always looked up to him, and here he was complimenting him.   
“Thank you! And you’re the best director I’ve worked with! Don’t tell the others...” He told Adam. He gave Shiro a brief hug and they shared some compliments before more and more people came over to talk to the power couple.   
  


Lance waited at the bar as the bar tender got him a Shirley Temple. He looked into the crowd and smiled. He loved working with these people and was glad he would again in the future.   
  


He spotted Allura walking over to him, and he smiled as soon as he saw her and Lotor hooking arms. Allura was wearing a short floral dress and Lotor had on a button up tucked into dress pants. With his golden completion and white hair tied back, and her dark brown skin and black and silver hair, they were by far the best looking people in the room.   
  


“Allura! You look stunning as always. And Lotor, it’s great to see you again.” He shook hands with Lotor and hugged Allura.   
  


“You as well, I’m excited for the premiere of your show!” He said to Lance politely.   
“Yeah me too! I wish it could air on tv instead of Netflix though, it’s more dramatic that way.” He explained to the two. The show was owned by Netflix, and not a channel so all the episodes would be on netflix at the same time. Great for bingeing, not great for dramatic cliff hangers between episodes. There weren’t that many though so not a huge deal.   
  


“What are you going to be doing between now and then? Besides several interviews of course.” Lotor asks him. Allura orders her and Lotor something from the bar.   
  
“Well next week I’m going to visit my family back in Cuba, but I’ll be back for when the show gets released. Then I think they have us filming again about a month or two after the first season is released. So I guess I’ll just be chilling.” Lotor nods along with a gentle smile on his face. Allura comes back with drinks for both of them, he thanks her with an adorable smile.   
  


“What about you Allura?” Lance asks his friend.   
“Oh well, I’ve actually been asked to model in Switzerland for a month or two. It’s a short gig for some make up brand I hadn’t heard of before. It should be fun though!” She told him. Lance’s chest ached, he was happy for her, really. But he wouldn’t get to see her for so long. He had gotten so close to her and the others so fast that it seemed foreign to not see them every day.   
  


“That’s great Allura! I’m going to miss you so much!” Allura rubbed his arm gently.   
“I hope we‘ll all be back in town so we can watch the show together though!”   
“That’d be really cool, we could have another sleepover or something.” Lance thought of their first sleepover. It was so fun, he had gotten to know them all so well.   
  


“Oh there’s Pidge! I’ve been looking for her!” Allura said, looking over Lotor’s shoulder. Lance looked where she was an saw Pidge and her brother Matt. Lance knew he was staying with Pidge for a couple months, but he didn’t realize that he’d be coming tonight. He hadn’t talked to him since last time. He’d been in the same room and conversations, but he’s never had an actual conversation with the guy. Lance just had a bad feeling about him. Something in his stomach hurt whenever he thought of him.   
  


That feeling in his stomach only worsened when he saw Keith walk over to the siblings, and he hugged both of them. His grip on his drink tightened, he set it down on the bar so he wouldn’t drop it, or break it.   
  


“We should go say hi!” Allura said to them. Lance watched at Lotor and her started walking. He sighed, grabbed his drink again and joined them.   
  


“Hey Allura, Lance. Oh, hi Lotor, good to see you.” Pidge said when they joined them across the room. Keith nodded at them in his attempt to say hello.   
  


“I don’t think we’ve met, I’m-“ Matt started, holding his hand out to Lotor.   
“Matthew Holt, I saw you on tour.” Lotor interrupted him and took his hand. Matt smiled and Lotor introduced himself.   
  


Lance subconsciously moved closer to Keith. He didn’t even realize until his arm brushed his friend’s. 

“Hey, how’s it going?” Keith asks him quietly, the rest of the group keeps talking about whatever. Lance leans into him to respond.   
“Pretty good, you?” Keith nods, and looks at Lance’s drink.   
“Thought you weren’t drinking tonight?”   
“It’s a Shirley Temple, no alcohol. Don’t worry.” Lance told him, Keith was such a worrier, he was gonna get worry lines along his face soon.   
  


The next hour and a half was spent talking to other crew and cast members. Then Coran and Adam both gave speeches, along with the writers. After everyone who wanted to speak had, they turned up the music and people started dancing.   
  


That’s how Lance spent the rest of the party. He’d dance with one group of friends, then another, then another. It could be better described as dancing along with those friends. The only people he danced with was Hunk, Allura, and occasionally Keith. He tried to avoid Matt as much as possible, which sometimes meant avoiding Keith, which sucked.   
  


He was dancing with Hunk when he saw Matt grab Keith’s hand and he dragged him to the dance floor. Keith had been leaning against the bar looking at something and then Matt walked over and they talked. Then Matt dragged a reluctant but smiling Keith to the dance floor. Lance watched the whole interaction but he couldn’t hear them or read their lips.   
  
He watched them dance, it was different tonight. They were still dancing like a couple, like waltzing and dipping and touching wherever. But it wasn’t really sexual, there wasn’t any grinding or thrusting. Lance greatly appreciated not having to watch that mess again. It still bothered him though.   
  


Hunk noticed how distracted Lance was, they were just swaying along with each other while Hunk sang along with the song. He looked at Lance, then to Keith and Matt behind him, then back to Lance.   
  


“Dude?” He said, Lance snapped his attention back towards his friend.   
“Yeah?” Lance asked.   
“You’re watching them dance again?”   
“Yeah, they aren’t being as gross tonight, thankfully.” Lance tried not to look back at them, but he did. Several times.   
  


“You know, you could dance with Keith...” Hunk suggested while Lance was distracted.   
“What? I’ve danced with Keith?” Lance says confused. He’d danced with Keith and Allura and Lotor Just an hour ago.   
“I mean like, I don’t know. You and him have danced next to each other, but you haven’t danced with him with him.Y’know?” Lance looked at Hunk’s face to see if he was joking. Lance knew what he was saying, he just didn’t want to acknowledge that.   
  


Lance went to the bar to grab a water. When he turned back to where he and Hunk were dancing, Hunk was gone.   
He looked around the room for him. He finally saw him with Keith and Matt. Hunk locked eyes with him and waved him over. Matt and Keith had seen him so now he had to. He sighed and walked over.   
  
“Party’s almost over isn’t it?” Lance asked, looking at his phone for the time. It was 11:30, they had to be out of their by 12. Lance knew that some people were going to a club after wards to continue partying but he and Keith agreed to just go back instead.   
  


“Yeah I guess it is,” Hunk said. “Hey Matt, you were an engineer for a while right?” Hunk asked out if the blue. 

“Uhm, I went to school for it yeah. I help around at some labs on occasion but not often, why?” Matt responded.   
  


“I just have a couple questions, here, why don’t we grab a drink?” Hunk says, Matt nods and they walk away to the bar. Leaving Keith and Lance alone.   
  


“Didn’t know Hunk was interested in engineering,” Keith says awkwardly. The song changed to a slow one. They always play a slow song as the second to last. Lance internally cursed Hunk.   
  


“Wanna dance?” Lance asked Keith, he smiled wide with his eyebrows wiggling. The only way this wouldn’t be awkward is if they just joked their way through it. So that’s what Lance was gonna do. He held out his hand for Keith.   
  


Keith rolled his eyes, but took his hand and smiled. Lance put his right hand on Keith’s hip and Keith put his right hand on Lance’s shoulder. They held their left hands together. Lance started moving them along, making sure to make his movements big and silly. Got to keep things friendly and funny, he kept reminding himself. Not that he would ever want anything else.   
  


At one point his spun Keith and Keith was so surprised that he punched Lance’s shoulder when they were done. Then Keith spun Lance faster, they were laughing the entire time.   
  


“This reminds me of first read. Do you remember? That game Coran made us play?” Lance asked him.   
“Heh, yeah you were so weird.” Keith replied, Lance got his face closer and started moving his leg around Keith’s like he did that day. It’s imitating a tango he learned for his show, and it always made Keith’s face bright red.   
  


The song ended soon after and they stopped touching, Lance felt like he had just chugged two coffees. He was full of adrenaline and his chest was lighter than before. He almost felt drunk, but he was certain he wasn’t. He was probably just tired.   
  


Keith and Lance left after the last song, and after Keith shared another round of shots with the other cast members. They avoided any paparazzi outside the hotel by leaving through the pool exit.   
  


“So, Keith Kogane, what is next for you?” Lance imitated a reporter, putting up a fake mic to Keith’s mouth. They had just sat down in the car, Lance was driving of course. 

“Well, next I’m going to sleep for two full months.” Keith said as he laughed. Lance smiled at him playing along.

”Big plans then?”   
“Oh absolutely, very excited about them.”   
  


Keith was smiling and Lance’s stomach didn’t hurt. It felt weird though, like he was anxious. But unlike when they were at the club, or when Keith was dancing, his stomach didn’t hurt like he was going to throw up. Lance couldn’t help but smile when he saw how happy Keith was.   
  


“Look at you,” Keith said after a moment of them just staring at each other. “Pronouncing my name right and everything.” Lance rolled his eyes and laughed, then put his face in his hands. Keith kept laughing, Lance was sure he wasn’t just tipsy anymore. He’s never this giggly when sober.   
  


“We should do a live video, it’s been a couple weeks.” Keith suggested. Lance took his hands away from his face to look at Keith. Keith had the look on his face, the one that lights up a room. It’s such a rare face for Keith. His smile is showing his teeth, and his eyes are just slightly wrinkled. Lance could never say no to Keith when he looked so excited about something.   
  


“Okay fine, but quickly. We should both be getting home.” Lance says, fishing his phone out.   
  


He goes live and tons of people already flood in. He smiles and waved to his screen. Keith does as well.   
  


“Hello everyone! We just got done with the wrap party for season one and just wanted to come on here and say a quick hello.” Lance told the live stream. Keith scooted closer in his seat to Lance. 

“Hey guys! It’s late here, if you live in the same time zone as us, you should be asleep right now!” Keith chastises the followers.   
  


**Oh my god the season is done already?!?**

**Does that mean it will be up soon?**

**You guys look so nice!  
**

**Are y’all driving in the same car???  
  
Where’s my boy Hunk?!  
**

**It’s like 2 am where I am**

**You guys are doing a live at midnight??  
**

**Favorite crackheads 🥰**

**Anyone gonna talk about about how they’re in the same car probably going to the same place at 12am??  
**

**What are you guys doing between now and the next season’s filming?  
  
**

Lance read through some of the comments, deciding which ones to answer. There were tons still coming in, he didn’t have time to read them all.   
  


“I think the season should be up on Netflix in about two and a half months.” Lance responded, Keith leaned against his shoulder so he could read some comments.   
  


“It’s my car, just for the record.” Keith mumbles, Lance puts his hand in his face and pushes him away. He’s probably too tipsy to watch what he’s saying.   
  


“If it’s two am you should probably go to sleep, sleep is very important!” Lance said to one of the comments.   
  


“Between now and the next season filming I’m going back home for a while, what about you Keith?”   
“I am helping Shiro out with making the merchandise for the show! It should be fun. But besides that? I’m just chilling with Kosmo.” Keith responds to the question, Lance notices how he slurs his words a bit.  
Keith says a couple more things to the fans, and Lance chimes in every now and then. But for the most part Lance just watched Keith ramble about Kosmo. Usually Lance would join in, he’s always one to sing Kosmo’s graces, but he was tired, and enjoying how Keith talked so adoringly.   
  


“Keith,” Lance said quietly, gently holding onto Keith’s elbow to get his attention. Keith looked at Lance expectantly.   
“We should get going, it’s late.” Lance said, Keith looked at the time. They’ve been on the live for almost thirty minutes.   
“Oh right, okay well we should get going now! It was great to talk to you! And hopefully we can answer more questions in the future! Bye guys!” Keith said to the camera.   
“Yeah everyone have a good night!” Lance ends the live and starts driving back to Keith’s.   
  


“Lance it’s really dark out,” Keith says as Lance walks him inside. Lance looks around, the only light comes from street lamps, but that’s normal for almost one am.   
  


“Yeah I guess it is,” Lance says. Keith isn’t super drunk, but Lance still walks him to his bed, just in case he needs anything.   
  


“So you shouldn’t walk home in the dark!” Keith says, taking off his t shirt to show his long sleeve shirt underneath.   
  


Lance stands his the doorway of Keith’s room. Keith is kind of adorable when he’s drunk, well.... drunk and not grinding on Matt. That’s not cute.   
  


“Keith it’s fine, I’ll just use your car and you can pick it up tomorrow when it’s light.” Lance says to him tiredly.   
  


“But you shouldn’t be driving in the dark either!” Keith says loudly, probably unaware of his volume. He starts to take his socks and shoes off.   
  


“Keith, I drove all the way here in the dark.” Lance points out.   
  


Keith looks at him surprised, like he didn’t notice how dark it was until he exited the car. He finishes taking his socks and shoes off. Lance thinks he’s going to keep stripping and is thankful when he doesn’t. He isn’t sure what he’d do.   
  


“But the parking garage to your apartment is far and you’re famous and people are creepy!” Keith whines and walks closer to Lance. Lance quirks an eyebrow at him as Keith stands right in front of him, Keith’s messy hair is almost brushing his face. They’re the same height usually, but Lance is currently wearing dress shoes while Keith is not.   
  


“Keith,” Lance continues until Keith stands on his tip toes so their eyes are at the same level. Lance can’t stop himself from smiling.   
  


“Lance just stay the night! I have an extra room it’s not a big deal!” Keith tried again. Lance looked to the side, he could feel his face getting warmer and he smiled.   
  


“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were just trying to get me to sleepover,” Lance joked. It’s how he does this, if things get serious he jokes, that’s all he knows how to do.   
  


“That’s exactly what I’m trying to do!” Keith laughed loudly while telling Lance. Lance stops smiling to look at Keith’s face to see if he was joking.   
  


“Lance I’m just worried about you and about.... me.” Keith looked at the ground and backed away a little.   
“I’m always alone here Lance. It sucks.” He kicks at the carpet that he’s staring at.   
  


Lance starts to walk over to Keith, he’s going slowly so Keith doesn’t get startled. He puts his hand on Keith’s shoulder.   
  


“Hey, it’s okay.” Keith doesn’t look at him.   
“Keith, you aren’t alone.” Keith let’s out a disbelieving laugh.   
“I love Kosmo, but she doesn’t actually talk to me that often Lance.” He finally looks at Lance. Lance notices how sad he looks. He wonders how long Keith has felt this lonely, how could he not notice?   
  
“No I mean, I’ll stay. You don’t have to be alone, you can call me over whenever. And I’m sure any of the cast would do the same.” Keith rubs his hands over his face. Then keeps his face there.   
  


“No, I’m being stupid and I’m not thinking right. I’m sorry, you should go. It’s not a big deal.” Lance takes his hands away from his face. He looks tired.   
  


“Too late, I’m staying. Now go to bed, I’ll be in the other room if you need anything okay?” Lance tells him and Keith looks away from his intense stare, but nods.   
  


Lance makes sure that Kosmo joins Keith in bed before going to the kitchen to grab him a glass of water. He shouldn’t have a huge headache tomorrow, but he’ll still be kind of dehydrated. He quietly puts the glass of water on the night stand. He notices that Keith’s shirt and jeans are on the ground now. He’s already asleep under the covers, Kosmo is sleeping at his feet.   
  


Lance smiles and closes his door. He’s in Keith’s condo now. And he’s going to sleep in one of the guest rooms. He keeps telling himself this, going over what he’s supposed to be doing. He’s supposed to be sleeping, and helping Keith if he needs it. But there’s part of himself that wants to go back into Keith’s room and hold him until the next morning. Just to let him know he’s not alone. Keith was one of Lance’s best friends, he can’t stand the idea of him not knowing how much he is cared for.   
  


The other part of him is wanting to run. To walk out the door and walk anywhere. He’s in the house of a famous person, not only a famous person, but a famous person who he’s also friends with. A famous person who lets him give him stupid nicknames, and who steals his tortilla chips whenever he’s over, who helps him to bed when he’s beyond drunk. He became friends with him and the rest of the cast so fast. Faster than he’s become friends with anyone, besides the kids he’d gone to summer camp with.   
  


But this is different, he knows them. He knows Allura and Pidge and Shiro and Hunk and Keith. He knows Keith and is freaking out that he’s putting too much trust in people he’s barely met. But then he remembers when they were in interviews together, they all laughed together and would finish each other’s sentences. And on set when they would mess around they all just knew his sense of humor. He remembers that Keith knows his coffee and bagel order, and that one time Shiro asked Lance something and Keith answered cause he knew. Because Keith _knows_ Lance.   
  


Keith knows Lance really well and that freaks Lance out.   
  


He sighs and turns all the lights off. He washed his face and heads to the guest room. 

He tells himself that he’s just tired and overthinking things. But the look in Keith’s eyes when he admitted that he didn’t want to be alone is etched into his head.   
  


But he tells himself to just sleep on it, and things will make more sense in the morning.   
  


He doesn’t hear Keith call out for him at all. Every time he hears anything though, he wakes up. Just in case. 


End file.
